


Something Bloody; Something Beautiful

by pastelkanan



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Culture, Alien Sex, Aromantic Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, Basically just the boys being cute, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Boys Kissing, Brief Mention of Suicide, Consent, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I think a human doing it with an alien kinda counts as alien sex idk about y'all but, Kissing, Light Angst, Lotor is Not a Douchebag, Love at First Sight, M/M, Marriage, Pidge is a Bit of a Gremlin, Protective Keith (Voltron), SPACE Soulmates, Salty Keith, Self-Esteem Issues, Shiro didn't disappear at the end of season two, Soulmates, at least there's alien culture sprinkled in here and there it's fine, none of that noncon or dubcon here just boys in love and being gay, supportive pidge, there's just a bit of it don't worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-10-25 12:47:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 67,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10764567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastelkanan/pseuds/pastelkanan
Summary: Lotor didn't speak until everyone was seated. His eyes once again drifted over the group, pausing on Lance for a moment. “You all know better than anyone else,” he began, tearing his eyes away from the blue paladin and moving on to observe them as a whole. “I inherited something bloody from my father. If possible, with your help, I will be glad to turn it into something beautiful.”*When the Voltron team receives a message from the newly ascended Emperor Lotor, none of them are quite sure what to expect from him. They don't expect him to be so different from his father, nor do they expect him to be so cooperative; above all, they don't expect him to fall in love with one of them.The blue paladin never saw it coming.





	1. Majority Rule

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group gets an unexpected message from an unexpected person. A choice is made and a course is set.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finally starting a new fic of these two! I've wanted to ever since I finished my last one but I had other projects going on, so now that those are wrapped up I can get started on this one. This chapter is mostly just exposition and setup so we can all get a feel for how I'll be writing the Voltron group throughout the fic. It ran a little longer than I had meant for it to but shit happens lmao

   There was a saying back on Earth that went, “In space, no one can hear you scream.” There was no saying that warned about the loss of a sense of time. Everything had worked on a regular clock back on Earth, what with the twelve hours of sunlight, the twelve hours of darkness, and the seven hours everyone was allowed to spend sleeping at the Garrison. Lights on, get ready, eat breakfast, go to classes, go to lunch, go to classes, go to dinner, shower, study or train or socialize, lights out. Every single day. Like clockwork. But out in space, with all the wormhole jumping and different planets with different suns, there simply was no standard measure of time anymore. They couldn’t even work out their own schedule on the castle, what with the fact that nobody knew when they’d have to go running out the door to fight. Being a defender of the universe was absolutely _exhausting._

   All of that being said, all of the paladins’ bodies screamed at them that it was too late at night to be waking up. Not that they had a choice. Coran was like a bull in a china shop, barging into everyone’s rooms without any warning, turning on the lights and waking them in the most irritating of ways. Just about the only method he didn’t use to try to get them all up was an air horn, which, if he had access to, he almost certainly would have used. He announced to each of them in turn that Princess Allura was waiting for them on the bridge. This was a very important, very _mandatory_ meeting.

   Well, at least the attack alarm wasn’t blaring. It could’ve been worse.

   Shiro was the first to receive a wakeup call and definitely the first one to the bridge. He nodded to Allura and offered a, “Good morning.” Allura smiled and returned the greeting. Shiro had _always_ been the easiest to wake out of all of the paladins, and though he never spoke of it and no one ever asked, it was easy to assume that it came from more than just his innate sense of responsibility. Even if he had been the prized Champion of the Galra arena, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that they had kept him in deplorable living conditions. Living in a Galra prison, Champion or not, simply was not conducive to a good night’s sleep. There would have been screaming, there would have been crying, there would have been blood, and there would have been no telling when he would be yanked out of his cell and thrown back into the arena. And nobody could afford to be half-asleep when they were forced to fight some awful monster to the death. Regardless of who Shiro was before his abduction, there was no chance that he had escaped those prisons unscathed.

   He sat in his chair, looking more awake than anyone ought to given the circumstances. Keith walked into the room next, also receiving a greeting from Shiro, and fell back into his seat with a _flump._ Though she wouldn’t _say_ it, it was hard to not notice how young Keith looked in that moment. His hair was tangled, messy, a bit poofy, and in desperate need of a brushing. Allura had been alive for a good bit of time before her ten thousand year long nap, and even excluding such a long amount of time, he was but a child by comparison. An adult among humans, sure, but with the bedhead and the sleep in his eyes, he looked like a tired young boy. It was rather endearing, considering the way he usually was.

   Pidge came soon after, holding her glasses in one hand as she used the other to rub the sleep from her eyes. Not that it made much of a difference. Regardless of how childish Keith looked at the moment, she still looked like a baby. A very strong and intelligent baby, yes, but a baby nonetheless. She put her glasses back on as she sat, yawning and managing to croak out her own, “Hey, guys.” She took the glasses back off almost as soon as she was comfortable, wiping them on her shirt in a futile attempt to clean them. Glasses _never_ stayed clean, but she tried anyways. She also had a bad habit of staying up too late, studying Altean or tinkering with a pod or, honestly, doing pretty much anything but sleeping. Maybe that had something to do with it. The glasses might stay clean longer if she wasn’t up so late, wearing them from the moment she woke up to the moment she finally went to sleep.

   Hunk rubbed the back of his neck as he made his way to his seat. The group had stopped off for supplies somewhere the day before and, as they often did, some Galra goons found them and offered up a fight. They’d found Hunk first. He both dealt and took a decent bit of damage before the others showed up to help him out. His muscles must still have been sore from dealing with those fighters by himself for a while, judging by the way he groaned when he sat down and looked like his seat was the most uncomfortable place in the universe. There was sympathy all around. He had deserved a good, _long_ rest, but there he was anyways, awake before he should have been and waiting for whatever news Allura had to share.

   As per usual, Lance was the last to be roused from his slumber and herded to the bridge. Quite literally, actually. If Coran hadn’t been right behind him, guiding his tiny exhausted steps, he probably never would have made it to his seat. He was a good kid, he really was, but he was not good at waking up. There had been an incident once where the attack alarm was sounded and everyone was out of bed and in their armor and ready to go… except for Lance, who somehow ended up in his lion wearing his helmet, his robe, and his slippers instead of his full set of armor. It hadn’t been a bad fight and everyone was okay, but Lance did get scolded by just about everyone.

   Coran went to stand next to Allura once everyone was seated and at least semi-awake, which could very easily have been classified as a miracle. She cleared her throat in a ladylike manner to get their attention. Five sets of tired eyes looked at her, as well as one worried set. Coran knew what this was about. She had told him before she sent him off to wake the paladins. They shared a knowing glance. If the five didn’t snap out of their lethargy once they heard why they were all there, they wouldn’t get anywhere that night. They’d have to send all of them back to bed and wait for them to wake up on their own, but that took _time_. Time was a luxury they didn’t quite have at the moment.

   “I’m sorry for waking you like this,” she started. Pidge yawned in response. Fair enough. “If I had thought that we could have waited, I gladly would have done so.” She heard another yawn, this time from Lance. She sighed in an almost hopeless way before she continued. “I’ve gathered you all here because I received a message from Prince, no, pardon me, _Emperor_ Lotor of the Galra Empire. I believed it best to deal with the matter promptly rather than leaving it until tomorrow.”

   Though it didn’t leave completely, the sleepiness that hung over the paladins drained out of the room. They all sat up a little straighter and their eyes came to life, some with worry and some with intrigue. “How’d he find us?” Pidge asked. “Is he tracking us or something? He can’t do that, right?”

   “As far as I’m aware, he does not have our coordinates,” Allura assured. “If he did, I’m sure we would be meeting under very different circumstances. He has simply found a way to send messages to us, for good or for ill. I brought you all here because I wanted you to see the video he sent and tell me what you all think about it. I will not act until I know what you all think of this matter.”

   “Let’s see it,” Shiro prompted. “What does he want?”

   Allura turned around to face the viewing screen and the console. She navigated her way through a few windows covered in Altean text that none but Pidge could even come close to understanding, eventually landing on a video file with a window of text opened next to it. That text, at least, they could read. She tapped the equivalent of the _play_ button found on human technology. She had already watched this video three times by herself, another two with Coran, and still her eyes did not leave the screen as the video started to play.

   There stood the newly crowned Emperor, accused of killing his predecessor as he lay in the coma Voltron put him in. Accused of killing his father Zarkon to gain the throne. There was no solid proof that he had done it, but even if there _was_ , it wasn’t like anything could be done about it. He was the ruler of a vast and powerful empire now; there was no justice system in the universe high enough to investigate and condemn him.

   Emperor Lotor stood straight, tall and proud. He radiated power in a way similar to that of his father, though it remained to be seen if his power also came from brute strength or if it came from something else. His long white hair mostly fell in a thick curtain behind him, save for a few strands pulled over his shoulders to frame his face, separated from the rest of his hair by his long, pointed ears. He also had what seemed to be a gravity-defying piece of hair that raised itself from the hairline of his forehead before deciding to drop back down. His eyes, resting under impeccable cloud-white eyebrows, were a common shade of yellow, and yet were still somehow so much different from every other Galra they had met. He also had a surprisingly nice nose, a much nicer mouth than most, and when he smiled at the start of the video he flashed a set of beautiful teeth, though his canines were sharper than they ought to have been. All in all, he was rather attractive. For a Galra.

   Though it should have been disturbing that he smiled at them before he spoke, it wasn’t at all unpleasant. And even though it was just through the speakers, his voice filled the room as he spoke. “Greetings, Princess Allura and Coran of Altea, as well as the paladins of Voltron. I understand that this message must be a surprise to you, yes? If it’s any consolation, I was advised several times to not contact you. Indeed, if I were the warmonger my father was, I would have never dreamed of speaking to you. With that in mind, I am here to offer you an invitation to come and visit our new capital city. I believe that we can come to an agreement and arrange some type of tactical alliance, the details of which would be discussed during your stay here. I have also sent you a text file containing instructions on how to reach me with your answer. Accept this invitation and I will gladly open the gates of my city to you and guarantee that no harm come to any of your group. If any disobeyed my order, I would have them put to death without a moment’s hesitation. Should you decline, however, the next time we meet will be on unfavorable terms on the battlefield.” His smile had faded as he had delivered his speech. He put the smile back on his face as he said, “I look forward to hearing from you.”

   The video message reached its end and silence descended. Everyone sat, staring at the screen like they couldn’t believe what had just happened. Then the silence was broken. “Play it again,” Keith said. “If you don’t mind. I need to see it again.”

   Allura watched the video for the seventh time as she replayed it for the paladins. The silence after the video ended was even longer this time. When nobody asked her to replay it once more, she turned away from the screen and back to face everyone. “That is why I’ve brought you all here. I did not want to act without knowing all of your opinions, and I did not want to let this matter drop until tomorrow. I would like to have it dealt with as swiftly as possible, if you don’t mind my hurry. I fear what may happen should we wait to long to reply.”

   “I get a bad feeling from that guy,” Hunk said. “He seems kinda dangerous, doesn’t he? That’s not just me, right? He’s like a vampire or something.”

   “What’s a vampire?” Allura asked.

   “A human legend,” Shiro told her. “Nocturnal humanlike creatures that drink the blood of the living. Not real. Nothing to worry about.”

   “If vampires have any chance of being real,” Hunk continued, “that guy is one of them. I don’t trust him. I’d rather fight him than risk getting close to him. And besides, vampires aside, you know that city is _swarming_ with fighters. He’d have no trouble cutting us off from each other and killing us. He’d have us outnumbered and outgunned around there. I don’t like that idea.” He rubbed his neck again for added effect.

   Despite the silent tension in the room, Coran chuckled. “If he attacked, you kids would easily fight him off. You’re the strongest group in the universe! I’m not a paladin, unfortunately, but I worked closely with King Alfor for many, many years. Knowing one’s enemies is crucial. If he becomes an enemy to us in the way his father was, having gone to meet him early on would give us an advantage we wouldn’t otherwise have.”

   Pidge nodded. “Coran’s got a point. I mean, we took out his dad, didn’t we? We could totally take a wimpy prince. Did you guys see his _hair_? Come on. That’s not the hair of someone who does battle.” Her glasses had started to slide down her face as she had leaned forward to watch the video. She pushed them back up into place. “I’d like to see what’s goin’ on around there. I bet there’s a bunch of neat junk laying around, too. We all know my last attempt at adding boosters to one of the pods didn’t go so well, but if I could pick up some dumb Galra tech and smarten it up a bit…”

   Coran practically glowed with pride. He knew he liked that kid for a reason.

   “We shouldn’t go,” Keith said. “He’s trying to sweet talk us into a trap. There’s no way he actually wants us to make an _alliance_ or some shit. He wants our heads on a silver platter. You guys didn’t forget that he’s the son of a homicidal maniac, right?”

   Shiro looked over at Keith and said, “The _son_ of one. He isn’t necessarily his father.”

   “Don’t tell me you actually _believed_ that line,” he replied. “He’s Galra, Shiro. They aren’t exactly trustworthy.”

   “ _You’re_ Galra,” Shiro reminded him.

   “Not completely.”

   “Not the point. Look, I’m not suggesting we make friendship bracelets with the guy, okay? But after everything we’ve all been through since joining Voltron, there’s no way that he poses a threat that we can’t handle. I’m interested in what he has to say. If he’s telling the truthー”

   “ _If_.”

   “ _If_ he’s telling the truth, yes, we could put an end to this. We could end this war once and for all. Now, I don’t know about you, but I think that’s worth the risk.”

   Keith looked away. “No. I’m sorry, Shiro, but I don’t trust him. We shouldn’t go.”

   Before those two could get in any trouble, Hunk spoke up. “Hey, uh, Lance? You’ve been quiet. What’re you thinkin’ over there?”

   Lance shrugged. He was still _exhausted_ , his stomach was painfully empty, and he had been having the best dream when Coran woke him up. He really wasn’t in the mood to deal with any of this, and yet, there he was. Dealing with it. Because he was a part of Voltron and his life wasn’t his own anymore. As long as the war was on, as long as the Galra empire was still expanding and enslaving and destroying, his life belonged to the universe and the people who lived in it. He was mostly okay with that, but… getting a break would be really, _really_ nice. That was why he said, “I agree with Shiro.”

   It wasn’t just that he still, to this day, had a bad case of hero-worship towards the guy. How could he not? Shiro was strong and brave and obviously gorgeous. He was the kind of person Lance had always wanted to be, even though he was the kind of person Lance could never be. He just wasn’t made of the same stuff that Shiro was. Shoving all of that to the side for the moment, Shiro was right. If they talked to Lotor, if they somehow managed to work out an alliance, they might be able to stop fighting. He could get a full night’s sleep again. He could go home, see his family, go down to the beach and feel the sand under his feet again.

   He was being selfish, thinking that way. He knew that. The real prize of an alliance would be to halt the expansion of the empire and to better the lives of the people who already lived in it. Of _course_ he wanted that. Of course he wanted to help as many people as he possibly could. He didn’t want anyone to suffer. Even if he never got to go back home, as long as he could make things better for someone, for everyone, for _anyone_ , he would be happy. He really would.

   “Seriously, Lance?” Keith asked.

   He nodded. “Yeah. I get why you and Hunk are all freaked out about it, but we’re talking about the greater good here. Nobody’s saying we have to _trust_ him. We just have to go and listen to him for a few minutes. If someone tries to kill us, we kill them.” He looked down at the floor before he said the next part. “And besides. I don’t think he’d go through all this trouble if he’s planning on killing us if we go. I’m sure he has better things to do with his time. I thought he was very polite.”

   Keith’s jaw dropped. “Polite?”

   “Well he wasn't being _rude_ ,” Lance replied.

   “That doesn't mean we can _trust_ him.”

   Allura sighed. “Keith.”

   He looked over to her. “Are you gonna take his side?”

   “If it's any comfort to you, I do not trust him either. However, there are seven of us in this room. Four of us think we should see what he has to say.” She sighed. “We are outnumbered here. I will let the majority rule.”

   Keith and Hunk groaned in unison. Allura dismissed them to do whatever they chose, be it going back to bed or to throw together some breakfast and get the day started. The room slowly emptied, Keith being the first to stand and walk out. Lance realized then that Keith had been counting on him to back him up and take his side, to agree that the alien man that probably killed his own father to take the throne wasn't the best company to keep. Maybe Hunk had been counting on him too, especially considering how he got such a bad case of the spooks from Lotor. Would Allura be mad at him, too? He hoped not. It wasn't like he was trying to make their lives difficult or to disagree with Keith just for the sake of disagreeing with him. For some reason, he genuinely believed that Lotor meant what he said.

   “Lance,” Allura said as he stood. “Shiro. Would the two of you mind helping me to put together a proper response? I’m not overly confident in my ability to have a civilized interaction with him at the moment.”

   Shiro nodded. “No problem.”

   “Shiro’s way more eloquent than I am,” Lance said, trying desperately to keep his emotions from coming through in his voice. “I don't think I'd be much help.”

   Allura’s face softened, like she could just _tell_ that Lance was afraid she'd be angry with his decision. It looked like he wasn't as good at keeping his feelings to himself as he had thought. “You have faith in him, for some reason.  If we can take those feelings and Shiro’s words and my diplomacy, I believe we will have the best possible chance at a favorable outcome.” She held out her hand welcomingly. “Come help us.”

   There was a fondness in her eyes. He wanted to punch himself for thinking that she, of all people, would be angry at him for it. If anyone was mad at him for what he said, it'd be Keith. Keith was always irritated at everyone, really, so there really wasn't much of a point in worrying about it. That wouldn't stop him from thinking about it, though.

   Shiro had the same look on his face as Allura, though perhaps with a bit more pride. Like he was proud of Lance for saying what he thought and being ready to take the risk of walking into a possible ambush because the meeting just might result in peace.

   He felt incredibly ridiculous as he looked at the kind expressions they had for him. He smiled as he walked over to stand with them and said, “Yeah, alright. Let’s do this.” If Allura wanted his emotions for their response, she could have them. He would tell her that he could have sworn that he could _feel_ his honestly, heard the truth in his words, seen warmth in his eyes. He couldn't explain _why_ he felt that way and he certainly couldn't say that he was positive that he wasn't being played by a skilled liar, but he really believed that Lotor was being truthful.

   They ended up with a written message saying something along the lines of, “We have considered your offer and most graciously accept your kindness, blah blah blah, however,  do not expect us to give up our weapons while we’re there, blah blah blah, attack us and we fight back.” A good chunk of the message was formal bullshit that Lance didn't even want to _attempt_ to sort through, another chunk could have been completely done away with. He couldn't help but be proud of himself when Allura and Shiro worked to put Lance’s feelings into words in order to tell Lotor that they had faith that he was being truthful with them.

   For a long time, Lance hadn't felt like anything special. He hadn't been _good enough_ in the Garrison and he hadn't felt _good enough_ among the ranks of Voltron, among all of those brilliant and strong people he was surrounded by every single day. He messed up. A lot. And he was scolded for it. A lot. There had been a time where he even thought that they'd all be better off without him, that he should take a pod and leave and try to figure out how to get back to Earth on his own. Everyone always outshined him anyways. They'd be able to find another blue paladin easily enough. What use did they have for _Lance_?

   Hunk had been the first to catch on to Lance’s self-depreciation. Lance had always played the role of the cocky bastard, sure of himself in everything he did and positive that he was an absolute ladykiller. Hunk knew better. He knew Lance for what he really was: a boy who always felt like he was mediocre at best, the kind of person who was easily replaced and forgotten, and was often only able to find comfort in the fact that he had a large family that loved him. He had once told Hunk that, even if he thought nobody else in the universe cared about him, he could go home and he would feel loved again. Hunk had been the first person outside of Lance’s family to hear about his being _bisexual._ He had said it like it was such an awful word, like something he had to be ashamed of. Hunk had been there to help him through the awful period of time where he tried to pretend that it wasn't true, that he was _completely_ straight and no man could ever win his affections. And Hunk had been there when Lance said “fuck it” and came to terms with it.

   Of course he had noticed when Lance was acting despondent. He had listened to Lance when he broke down when Hunk asked him about it. He had helped him approach the others and tell them how he was feeling. And Lance had been astounded when they _listened_ and stunned when he started to get apologies and support and praise. Traces of that time and those doubts still lingered in his mind as negativity was bound to do, but that misery had somehow strengthened the bonds he had with everyone. It had made them all stronger. Lance finally felt like he was really meant to be a part of the team. Ever since then, in matters big or small, they made sure he was included. They made sure to tell him when they were impressed by something he had done. He no longer thought about running away, no, he now thought about continuing to run with them all down the path they had started on the moment Shiro had come back to Earth.

   Being included in things like this, having people really _value_ the things he felt and said, was indescribable after all the time he spent thinking he was worthless. He knew better, now. He knew they cared about him. Yeah, Keith would be irritated with him for a while after disagreeing with him, but it would pass. It always did.

   They sent the message off to Lotor. He hadn't requested for a video message to be sent in response to his own, much to the relief of the three who had been working on their reply. While they were waiting for the next message from him, Shiro went to get them something to eat. He returned with three bowls of space goop and three drink packets, saying that Hunk had served up the food for them and made Shiro and Lance’s portions a bit more edible according to the human tongue. Allura’s was left untouched. She had never understood _why_ they complained so much about it. It was a miracle that their food machines still worked after those ten thousand years they were left untouched. They had done well eating foods from other cultures they had encountered thus far, so maybe the castle’s food systems just didn't match up with humans.

   The three of them had barely begun to eat their breakfasts when a new message came in. It was not a video, just a short paragraph of text saying what coordinates to go to and when. Lance was about to swallow a mouthful when he saw the time Lotor wanted them to be there. He almost choked to death on his food.

   Lotor wanted to meet them in _five hours._

   Oh, hell.

 

*

 

   The problem wasn't _getting_ there. The problem was _getting ready_ to be there. Allura and Coran, as the original residents of the castle, had wardrobes of clothes they could choose from that already fit them. Clothes that were formal and fancier than anything any of the paladins had ever worn, clothes than were mostly armor, and some that were a bit of both. It was Coran who took the paladins around the castle, checking out abandoned quarters with the hopes of finding nice outfits that would fit all of them. “You can't go in your armor,” he said. “Wearing armor to a formal meeting can be seen as an aggressive act! We don't want to provoke anyone, especially in a city full of Galra.”

   “There’s no way you’re gonna find clothes that’ll fit us,” Pidge said as they walked down the hall towards another empty room. “I mean, I don’t know if there’s as much variation in Altean forms as human forms, but. Let’s be real. Shiro’s massive and I’m, like, a fuckin’ gremlin. There’s no way.”

   Coran waggled a finger and went _tsk, tsk._ “Never doubt the fashion abilities of Alteans. I promise I will find outfits for all of you. We have children’s clothes around here, too. Although, I do hope none of you have an aversion to cool colors. We don’t wear many warm colors.”

   Pidge sighed as Coran started to go on about the colors that Alteans liked to wear back in the day. She’d never get to wear adult clothes, would she? She’d be stuck wearing junior’s sized clothes until the day she died. Everyone tried to tell her that it’d be just fine and she still had plenty of time to grow and she totally wouldn’t stay that tiny forever, but the people who said _that_ shit were the ones who didn’t know anything about what it was like to be chronically short. It was a curse.

   She ended up in children’s clothes, sure enough. A little boy’s clothes, as per her request, as she’d be damned before she started prancing around in a pretty dress. It wasn’t that she was ashamed of actually being a girl, nor was it that she just _hated_ skirts and that sort of thing, not really. It was just a matter of preference at this point. Skirts were just so… _ugh._ How did anyone survive in those things? She preferred pants a thousand times over, thank you very much. So Coran made sure she ended up in a nice pair of pants, navy blue with gold accents, a white shirt that went underneath an overly fancy jacket that matched the pants, and a pair of white boots. Knee-high boots that were rather nice, all things considered. She could hide a knife in each boot and easily reach them if she needed them. And the jacket hung down farther in the back than it did in the front, draping over the belt that held the pants in place. That extra fabric allowed her to attach her bayard to the belt and keep it hidden from immediate sight. She liked it.

   Hunk was the next recipient of an outfit, it being not much different from Pidge’s but for size and color. His was mostly a rich shade of brown instead of blue, the boots black instead of white. He arranged his own weaponry in a manner very similar to Pidge. Keith was the first to get a color close to what he was used to, endin up with a dark maroon outfit with white accents and black boots. His was a bit frillier than the previous two; Coran had announced that the person who last lived in the room they got that set from had been rather liberal about his style of dress, which included the addition of frills here and there. Lance, similar in body to Keith, was also dressed in frills from that same wardrobe. His color scheme was nearly the same at Pidge’s, though his blue was midnight instead of navy. Shiro was the only one who got to wear colors he was used to when Coran managed to dig up a black outfit with white accents, white boots. Of course he was the easiest to find a matching color for. Black was _so_ unfair to everyone else, for which Shiro apologized profusely. He was that kind of guy.

   By the time they were all dressed in their awkward Altean clothes, weapons hidden away in the folds of leather boots and cloth, armor in places they could put it without being too obvious, Allura had finished her own business of getting ready. Even women from space took great care in their appearances, apparently. She was dressed in a pink-ish purple dress, somehow very different from what she usually wore without being uncharacteristic. Her hair had been done up into a crown of intricate braids that she had accomplished with the help of the mice. Formal hairstyles for Altean women were, evidently, fucking ridiculous and took insane amounts of time to put together. A few hours to find outfits for all of the paladins, what with their size and shape variations? Sure. A few hours for Allura alone to get herself into a warrior princess’s dress and a crown of her own hair? That was a bit harder to justify. But they had to do it, she said. They couldn’t afford to appear like they didn’t care about the meeting, nor could they keep him waiting.

   And so when everyone was ready and they had thought about some of the nice things they’d say to the Emperor, it was time to _go._ Lotor had put a massive time crunch on them, demanding they be there so fucking soon. He couldn’t wait a day or two, could he? He just _had_ to insist they show up within just a few hours. Impatience must have come with his position.

   A hop, skip, and a wormhole jump later, they arrived at the coordinates Lotor had given them. He was waiting for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :3c


	2. Friendly Terms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Emperor Lotor welcomes Allura and the paladins of Voltron into his home. He finds one of them rather charming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got this done quicker than I thought I would??? nice

   Coran offered to stay with the castle. He wanted to be there with everyone, he _really_ did, but his sense of duty wouldn’t allow him to leave the castle unguarded. He wasn’t a warrior the way the paladins were and he wasn’t as prepared to fight as Allura was, but he knew a thing or two about protecting what was his. All Alteans did, though the reason why was lost to history. Home and hearth were fiercely protected by their race. The castle was home to all seven of their group. The others were indescribably grateful that someone would be there to look after everything. No Galra soldiers would get onboard that ship as long as Coran was there to keep an eye on things.

   The other six descended from the castle to Lotor. They had landed on a vast concrete landing strip just outside of the city, an area that was completely empty save for them and a carriage drawn by horse-like beasts. Allura led the group, Shiro just slightly behind and to the right of her, the other four fanning out around them. Lotor was unmistakable as he stood in front of a small group of three guards. He smiled almost kindly as they approached.

   “A pleasure to meet you all,” he said when Allura and the others stopped a foot and a half from him.

   “And you,” she replied calmly. “I must admit I was very surprised to receive a message from you. We all were, in fact.”

   He shrugged in a way that was more elegant than any shrug had the right to be. “I was surprised to receive a positive response from you all. It was very easy to assume that you would decline based on my bloodline. This surprise is a rather pleasant one, I think.”

   “That depends upon how the rest of this meeting goes,” she replied. “I would hate for this to end in bloodshed.”

   He chuckled. “Wouldn’t we all? Come, now, you can relax. I have given the orders that you and your ship are not to be touched by any of my citizens. If they disobey, I can assure you that they will be given the harshest of punishments. I will stay true to my word. No harm will come to you.” He paused as his eyes slowly drifted over the group. “There is supposed to be a seventh. Where is he?”

   “He has elected to stay with the castle. You must understand that we are not quite comfortable leaving it completely unguarded. It’s nothing personal, of course, but simply a matter of the instinct to protect one’s home.”

   “An instinct all of us have, I suppose.”

   She nodded. “Now, shall we have our introductions?”

   “Unnecessary,” he said. “I know who all of you are. You know who I am, as well. Let’s not waste any time.” He motioned to the carriage. “We have things to discuss, do we not? This will take us to my castle. If it will put your minds at ease, my guards will ride outside of the carriage with the coachman. If our discussions are to go well, everyone involved must be comfortable. As this is my home territory, I will do whatever I can to help you feel at home here.” His eyes drifted back to one of the paladins. A feeling Lance couldn’t describe coursed through his body when Lotor smiled softly at him in particular.

   No, no, he told himself, he imagined that. He was standing just to the left of Allura, so what was to say that he wasn’t smiling at her? She was the diplomat of the group, after all. She was the only one of them who was more of a leader than Shiro. She was also _stunning_ , but that went without saying. Anyone with functioning eyes could tell that she was gorgeous. Lance had to admit that he still had the tiniest of crushes on her, being consistently impressed by everything she did and the grace she did it with. He had moved on for the most part, knowing damn well that it was never going to happen and realizing that she cared about them all as family rather than romantic interests, but he was still amazed that she could even exist. He wouldn’t admit that the feeling he had experienced when he thought Lotor smiled at him wasn’t unlike what he had felt when he first met Allura. A bit different, yes, but the same basic concept.

   If he could have done it without looking like he had lost his mind, he would have found something to start banging his head against. He was still tired. He still wanted to go back to sleep. He hadn’t even gotten time for so much as a nap while they were all rushing to get ready for this stupid shit. The next time he got a chance to sleep, he was going to take it. He needed sleep. Lots and lots of sleep.

   Then Lotor’s eyes moved, going back to making eye contact with Allura. He really had been looking at Lance, hadn’t he? What the fuck? He heard the two of them discussing the issue of the carriage taking them to Lotor’s castle, heard Lotor order the guards to go sit except for one who was to hold the door open until they were all inside, heard him say, “After you,” and motion towards the carriage. He heard everything that was going on around him, but he was mostly in his own head, trying to figure out why Lotor had been looking at him. Did he have something on his face that nobody else noticed? Maybe his clothes fit weird, maybe he was slouching too much and looked like a child. Whatever it was, he found it rather unnerving.

   He forced himself back into reality when Shiro was the first to poke his head into the carriage to check the interior. Shiro looked back at the group and nodded that it was safe, empty of any guards they may not have seen. He stood aside to in, Allura, Hunk, Keith, Pidge, and Lance in order before personally bringing up the rear. They quickly realized that there wasn’t room for all six of them on one side of the carriage. Two of them would have to sit on the other side with Lotor. Allura, Hunk, Keith, and Pidge had made themselves comfortable on the padded bench across the way from where Lotor would sit. Shiro, being the big strong hero he was, sat on the _undesirable_ side without hesitation. Lance followed his lead. Intimidated as he was by the presence of an Emperor, he wasn’t going to be a douchebag and ask one of the others to give up their seat so he didn’t have to sit by Lotor. Because Lotor insisted on sitting between he and Shiro. No big deal.

   While Lance sat straight, hands balled into fists resting on his thighs, Lotor made himself comfortable. He crossed his legs and seemed to lean just a little bit to his right. Leaning towards Lance. He spoke freely, promising them the best of accommodations at the castle. It was then that he said, “I have taken the liberty of having rooms prepared for each of you. One of you will, of course, have to come back here to tell your seventh crew member to move your… _ship_ to the hangar.”

   “I beg your pardon,” Allura said, shifting uncomfortably where she sat smushed between Keith and Hunk. “But how long do you intend for us to stay? I know alliance talks tend to take a long time, but we are very unprepared for any business lasting longer than perhaps a day and a half. I was under the impression that we may break any longer discussions up into multiple parts.”

   Lotor rolled his eyes in an amused way. He waved one of his hands like what he was about to say next was obvious. “Perhaps you Alteans are in the habit of taking extended breaks between bursts of work, but that is not the way we do things here. I expected you to stay no less than a week. In the worst case scenario, negotiations could go on for nearly a month.”

   A _month_? With eyes wide in shock, Lance looked at the man sitting beside him. That was _insane._ If Lance had been able to find the right set of words, he would have entirely disregarded Lotor’s status as Emperor and told him that they couldn't do that. Allura did it for him.

   She took a breath to recollect herself. Everyone in the carriage had been shocked, even her. “I'm not quite sure any of us would be able to sit still for that long. We have gotten rather used to moving around a lot, you see.”

   “Oh, you act as though I want to keep you all in chains,” he replied. “As individuals, you are free to come and go as you wish while negotiations are not in process. I only expect all of you to be present while we discuss our terms. I think it is rather unlikely that you have to stay for a month, anyways. I'm sure we can come to an agreement before then.”

   “You're really serious about this,” Lance said before he could stop himself.

   Lotor looked at him. He was a solid two feet taller than Lance, making the boy feel tiny and insignificant under his gaze. That is, until the gaze softened considerably, along with his voice. “Of course I am,” he reassured. “I know we have very different opinions on how the universe should be handled, but I was weary of our war even long before I took over things around here. You and I want the same thing, you see. We want peace. That is why I offered an invitation and that is why you accepted. Am I wrong?”

   Lance looked down at his hands. The way Lotor looked at him was somehow embarrassing, as if he actually had something to be embarrassed about. “Well, no. Pretty much everyone wants peace. It's just…”

   “Nobody expected that I would be one of them.”

   “Exactly.”

   Lance came absurdly close to shrieking when Lotor brushed some of his hair back behind his ear. “I understand the skepticism, but you need not to worry any further.”

   Allura cleared her throat to bring the attention back to her. Lance’s skin burned where Lotor had touched.

 

*

 

   He stared at his hands for the rest of the carriage ride, not daring to look up until the carriage had stopped and Lotor confirmed that they had arrived. The ride had been pleasant, all things considered. It had been on the long side, though, and Lance saw why when he stepped out after Allura and Shiro. The castle wasn't in the center of town as one might expect; they had gone straight through town and then out into the middle of nowhere to get to their destination. The great stone building rose tall, surrounded by thick pine-like trees on all sides. The only break in the forest was that of the path they had taken to get there. Towers scraped the sky where they soared above the tops of the tallest trees, the whole thing absolutely _massive_ in comparison to anything Lance had ever seen. He was willing to bet that it had more square footage than even the Castle of Lions.

   Well, maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be stuck there for a month because of boring negotiation meetings. There would be an awful lot to explore during downtime. However… if Lotor was to betray them and attempt to kill them, nobody would know. It was too far removed from civilization.

   “I have a small question,” Shiro said after a moment of taking in the sight of the Emperor’s castle. “Where's that hangar you mentioned?”

   “Do you see that mountain to the North?” Lotor asked, looking off in that direction.

   “Yes.”

   “That's the hangar. There’s more than enough room there for your ship, don't be concerned. It is far larger than it may look from here.”

   During the ride there, everyone had slowly been growing bolder about speaking to him. Except for Lance, of course, who continued to hold his tongue even as Keith rather rudely asked, “So why the hell didn't you let us land there to begin with?”

   Lotor scoffed. “That wouldn't be any fun, obviously. I thought a nice ride would be nice for everyone involved. It certainly gave us more time to get to know each other, didn't it?”

   “I didn't realize we were here to make friends.” Keith, at least, had no qualms about bitching at the Emperor.

   “We should be on friendly terms at the very least,” Lotor told him. “If this is going to work, we need to be able to coexist.”

   Keith scoffed to himself. Yeah, because the Galra Empire had been doing a _great_ job at coexisting with people instead of destroying them. It was clear just by his body language that he still didn't buy a single thing Lotor was saying. Lance rolled his eyes. Keith was such a drama queen sometimes.

   A person who must have served as a butler emerged from the castle door and walked over to the group. He bowed to Lotor, rose, and bowed to Allura and Shiro. He said nothing, just led everyone up the stairs and inside in silence. Lotor walked just behind his butler as they walked up the stairs, Allura slightly behind and to the right of him, the other five walking behind them in a rather tight group. The entrance to the castle was a large set of reinforced wood double doors, at least three times as tall as the Emperor. The doors shut behind them as they walked in; the slamming of the doors behind him caused Lance to look over his shoulder. Two guards stood there, one for each door. He would have been far more concerned about the guards than he was if not for the stunning Gothic entranceway rose around their group with rich colors that stood in vivid contrast to the plain grays of the exterior. At the far end of the entrance hall was a large staircase that rose dramatically. On either side of the hall were several arches that led into halls and rooms Lance couldn’t see behind the closed doors. A golden chandelier hung from the ceiling far above them.

   Lance wouldn’t claim to know much about castles and royalty and their servants, but he was pretty sure that it was the butler’s job to welcome them to the castle, not the Emperor. Despite that, it was Lotor who said, “Welcome to the center of the Galra Empire. Welcome to my home.” He was bathed in beautiful gold light that came from the chandelier and lights on the walls between arches. He walked up a few stairs and turned around to smile at them. “It is a pleasure to have you here.”

   The first thing Lance said after his long silence in the carriage was came out in a breath as an astounded, “Woah.” Frankly, it wasn’t just the architecture or the beautiful colors the decorated the interior that impressed him. His eyes were fixed on the figure on the stairs. That indescribable feeling Lance had felt when Lotor first smiled at him ran through his veins again as Lotor’s eyes fell upon him. He couldn’t take back the _woah_ he had let loose, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to. Standing up there, looking down at everyone with a smile on his face, Lotor was surprisingly attractive. Which made Lance feel like he really, _really_ needed to go back to sleep. He wasn’t straight and he knew that, but what the _fuck_? The alien Emperor? Really? Bullshit.

   After a few moments of pleasantries and compliments for the castle, they were all led through some halls and up some stairs to the guest rooms. At the end of their hallway was a large, stained glass window. From the window to the stairs, Allura, Pidge, Hunk, and Coran’s rooms were on the left side of the hall, then Shiro, Keith, and Lance on the right. Coran would, of course, come in later. Each room was incredibly grand, each one having large beds and even larger windows looking out into the forest around the castle. “I hope you all enjoy your stay here,” Lotor said as they had all looked into the rooms. “I wanted you all to see these rooms before we go to a meeting room to begin our conversations, assuming you would all like to begin right away rather than waiting any longer.”

   Allura, apparently being the spokesperson for the paladins, nodded. “We would like to get started, yes. That is what we came here for.”

   Lotor ordered the butler to lead the group to one of the castle’s meeting rooms. Lance ended up towards the back of their group, followed closely by Lotor. With none of this friends’ eyes on him, he nearly jumped out of his skin when Lotor’s hand rested on the small of his back. He leaned down to whisper to Lance, “I do not mean to scare you, nor do I mean to make you uncomfortable, but I think you would be interested in visiting the hot springs we have here. You seem like one who enjoys such things.”

   Lance hoped he wasn’t blushing too much. He was pretty used to being touched by now, considering the constant contact with the other paladins and the lovey nature of people they saved, but this was completely different. This was more intimate than it had any right to be in comparison to every other interaction Lance had had since the last time he had been in a relationship, however long ago that had been by now. He found that Lotor’s body seemed to run unnaturally warm as the heat from his hand made its way through Lance’s clothes and to his skin, as his breath next to Lance’s ear made the area hot. Or maybe Lotor had a regular body temperature and Lance was just losing his goddamned mind. That was very possible. “How do you figure?” he eventually asked, whispering back as to not catch the attention of his friends. He didn’t figure it would end well for anyone involved if they turned around to see what was taking place behind them.

   “You have impeccable skin for a human,” Lotor said. “I suspect you take rather good care of yourself, don’t you?”

   “I, uh, try to. I guess.”

   “Then it would appear we have something else in common. I promise you’ll find the experience satisfying.” Reading the uncomfortable look on Lance’s face, he sighed to himself and added, “We could invite the others, if that would make you more comfortable. I just thought that the two of us would enjoy each other’s company. I have noticed something about you that the rest of them simply do not have. If you would allow me to, I would much like to get to know you better.”

   “What are you gonna do if I say no?”

   Lotor removed his hand from Lance’s back, slowly and in a way that felt almost sad. “There would not be much I could do. If you do not wish to concern yourself with me, I will respect your boundaries. I would not be angry at you or any of your crew, nor would I let it stand in the way of negotiations. You see, I inherited quite a mess from my father. The history of my Empire is stained with innocent blood, and though I cannot wash away the sins of the past, I can attempt to keep them from being repeated in the future.”

   They arrived at a meeting room and all conversations, whispered in secret or otherwise, as was the case of Pidge, Hunk, and Keith discussing the possibility of space vampires being a thing, fell silent. The butler opened an ornate door and stood to the side, ushering everyone in. A long table surrounded by chairs on all sides occupied the middle of the room. Lotor left Lance’s side and went to stand beside the largest chair of them all, the one sitting at the head of the table. One meant for an Emperor. He waited calmly, patiently, and silently for the paladins and Allura to take their seats. Allura sat on the opposite end of the table from Lotor. Hunk and Keith, still wary of the Galra man, sat opposite each other in the seats closest to Allura’s. Pidge sat beside Keith and across from Lance. The chair to Lance’s right was where Shiro chose to sit.

   Lotor didn't speak until everyone was seated. His eyes once again drifted over the group, pausing on Lance for a moment. “You all know better than anyone else,” he began, tearing his eyes away from the blue paladin and moving on to observe them as a whole. “I inherited something bloody from my father. If possible, with your help, I will be glad to turn it into something beautiful.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HERE WE GO FOLKS we're getting to the good shit where Lotor starts tryna flirt with our boy Lance


	3. Gentle Glow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance decides to go exploring, and he has an unexpected encounter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually posting this chapter on my birthday!~ I had fun writing it, so I hope everyone likes it.

   Lance fell backwards onto the massive bed in his room, not bothering to take off his obnoxious boots or even look around the rest of the room. Allura and Pidge had teamed up and gone with one guard, sworn to protect the Princess and her companion, and the coachman to bring Coran and the ship to the hangar. The remaining paladins had been led back to their rooms by the ever-silent butler. The mattress and blankets were absurdly soft and comfortable, luring Lance to the precipice of sleep. He was about the fall when a knock on the door startled him back into the waking world. He groaned miserably and got up. Why did he have to deal with this shit? Their meeting for the day was totally over and Allura hadn’t _said_ when she left that everyone had to be awake and waiting for their return, so who was the fucker keeping him from his well-deserved rest?

   He got up and went to the door, slouching horribly as he opened the door. “What?” he grumbled before he saw who was there. There stood another butler or servant or _whatever_ the staff around there were referred to as. He noticed only that it wasn’t the same man as the one who had been leading them around all day. This one held a tray with a silver platter upon it. “What’s this?” Lance asked. He saw another butler across the hall at Hunk’s door, and considering that, it was easy to assume that there were butlers at every door, carrying trays with them.

   “Dinner,” the man said. The servants in the castle all wore long, flowing black robes with purple accents along the neck and arms. They also wore thin black scarf-like cloths over the lower halves of their faces, covering their noses and mouths. “Emperor Lotor ordered food to be delivered to all of you.”

   Lance sighed. “Alright. Thanks,” he said, reaching out to take the tray. The man gave it to him and bowed before leaving. Lance shut the door when the man was gone and took the tray back over to the bed. He set it down and crawled back up onto the bed, actually taking his boots off this time. He pulled the tray close and took the covering off the platter. There was a slab of meat Lance didn’t know the identity of, a rather lovely array of color fruits and vegetables he also didn’t know the identity of, and a folded piece of paper. Even though he wasn’t sure if the food was poisoned or just plain toxic to humans, he grabbed one of the small, round fruits and popped it into his mouth before unfolding the paper. Apparently he had more faith in Lotor than he had thought, blindly trusting the Emperor to not have poisoned food brought to him.

   He had nearly choked to death on his food when he had found out that Lotor wanted them there so quickly. He almost choked again as he read what was written for him. He really needed to stop eating when anything related to that guy was involved. Still, he managed to swallow without dying. There were two parts of the note. There was the top half of the folded paper that was a pretty standard message that had likely been delivered to everyone, saying something about how the wardrobes in each room had been filled with clothes that should fit their occupants and that, if they didn’t, the problem could be easily fixed as soon as they mentioned it. The lower half of the paper was personally addressed to Lance, saying that he had continuously found Lance to be very charming and looked forward to speaking with him as the relationship between the Emperor and the Voltron group continued to progress.

   Not much had been accomplished during their first meeting that day; Allura had voiced her opinion that it would rather please her to see the the Galra Empire completely done away with and Lotor had laughed and told her that there was no chance of his releasing his hold on the Empire, Lotor had asked everyone what ideas they all had for the future, and he had seemed very interested in getting to know the group before they got too deep into negotiations. Lance hadn’t said much, but when Lotor had asked him what sort of things he loved, he had answered directly that he loved his family, he loved his friends, he loved rain and the ocean and the constellations he had seen from the beach during summer. And then they had moved on as someone else grabbed Lotor’s attention away from the blue paladin. Lance couldn’t remember anything significant aside from that, so what was it that had _charmed_ Lotor?

   He grabbed another fruit, remembering what he had said to Lotor just before they had gone into the meeting room. He had asked what Lotor would do if he said _no_ to getting to know each other and he suddenly felt a bit guilty. That question had been completely hypothetical, it really had. He hadn’t meant to reject Lotor’s attempts at friendliness. Did he think that Lance had shot him down? Was he trying to convince Lance that he was worth the time? _Fuck._ The only thing he had been really _concerned_ about when he asked that question was how his answers to Lotor’s invitations would affect the alliance talks. He had only wanted to know if his friendship or lack thereof would impact their discussions at all, considering that he was the one Lotor had first approached in a friendly manner.

   He forced himself to put the note down and to eat the meal that had been so graciously sent to him. Once he was done, he set the tray down on the floor beside the bed and got under the covers. He’d go to sleep, probably for the night, and then he’d find a spare moment with Lotor the next day and clear up any misunderstandings he may have caused. He desperately wanted this to work. What could be better than the Empire really was changing and the lives of those who lived in it improving and relative peace settling in again? Lotor had said that if any of this was to go well, they all needed to be on friendly terms. As long as the Emperor’s personality didn’t do a complete one-eighty, Lance was more than willing to comply.

 

*

 

   Lance woke up when he heard Coran’s voice out in the hallway. Allura and Pidge must have come back with him in tow. However, there was no knock at his door and no attempt by any of those three to check in on him. They must have understood his exhaustion and decided to leave him be. Coran’s voice disappeared after the opening and closing of another door, followed closely by two others. He imagined there must have been some kind of tension out in the hall, what with Allura still being skeptical about all of the kindness they were receiving. She must have been ready for the Galra surrounding them to lock all of their doors from the outside to keep them all captured, she must have been certain that someone would somehow find a way through the Castle of Lions’ security and manage to get their hands on the lions, and she was almost certainly prepared to fight someone to the death at any given moment. But Lance wasn’t Allura, nor did he think like she did. He sighed and shut his eyes again, waiting for sleep to take him once again.

   It didn’t.

   There was a grandfather clock next to the door of his room, reading numbers he didn’t know or understand. The only thing he knew for sure about that clock was that there were fifteen time markers instead of the Earthen twelve, for whatever that was worth. Were the days on that planet really thirty hours long? But then again, how long were _hours_ around here? For all he knew, an hour here was two hours back on Earth. God. Time was weird.

   As soon as it became clear that he wasn’t going to get back to sleep no matter how long he laid there staring at the clock, he sighed and got out of bed to put his boots back on. If he couldn’t sleep, he might as well do some snooping around the castle. Well, no, not snooping. That made it sound like he was looking for hidden secrets. He wanted to _explore_ , which was _totally_ different from snooping. It was dark outside and the halls were now lit mostly by the gentle glow of torches mounted on the walls. He told himself that he wasn’t hurting anything by taking one for exploration purposes. He’d put it right back where he found it as soon as he was done. He just hoped that no guards stopped him and got mad at him for wandering around with a torch in the middle of the night.

   His footsteps echoed through the halls as he walked. He turned down a hallway he had been curious about earlier in the day, then turned down another one, then another. There was something spooky about the castle, something that made him a bit apprehensive as he turned each corner. Perhaps that was just a side effect of being in a Galra castle in the middle of the night. He lost track of time and direction as shadows danced around him. The world outside the windows was bathed in the light glow of a moon he could barely see above the trees. He stood still then, looking out a window that was large enough to be considered a wall. Maybe there was more than one moon, even. That’d be cool. He always loved visiting planets that had multiple moons.

   As he stood there in silence, the sound of another set of footsteps reached him. His heart jumped into his throat and the hot feeling of fear blossomed in his chest. He looked around in a panic, trying to locate another source of light. Surely nobody was walking around the castle in the dark, right? But he saw no lights, no torches, no lanterns. Nothing. He only saw darkness and heard the footsteps coming closer. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled with the feeling of being watched, being preyed upon. He had left his bayard in the room, on the nightstand next to his bed. The knife he had stashed in his boot was still there, but… he was far from accustomed to fighting with knives. He wasn’t Keith. Keith was the knife person, Lance was the gun person.

   “What are you doing out and about so late?” Lotor asked from behind him. Lance may or may not have screamed a bit, but whatever.

   Holding his free hand to his chest and feeling his heart pounding, he turned around and looked up at Lotor. “You scared the hell outta me,” he said.

   “My apologies,” Lotor replied. “I was sure you heard me coming. Are you alright?”

   He decided against trying to explain to Lotor that he wasn’t used to all the echoes and couldn’t pinpoint what direction he had been coming from. He just sighed and slumped against the wall. “I’m fine. And since you asked, I was just exploring a bit. Woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep.” His heartbeat slowed, approaching its regular rhythm again. “What are _you_ doing out here?”

   Lotor decided to join Lance in leaning back against the wall. “I live here,” he reminded him.

   “It’s the middle of the night.”

   “And I get bored.”

   Lance actually laughed. “Seriously?” he asked. “Emperor Lotor of the Galra Empire gets bored in the middle of the night? Don’t you have, like, concubines or some shit to keep you busy?”

   Lotor scoffed. “Heavens, no. I am not that kind of man. I do not wish to spend my nights with anyone that I do not love.”

   “Well.” Lance had to stop himself from slamming his head against the wall. “Hearing that makes me feel like an ass.”

   “Don’t. We hardly know each other, Lance. I can’t be upset at you for suggesting such a thing. It must be common elsewhere, yes?”

   “I dunno about out in space,” Lance said, “but on Earth there was this Mongol warlord-slash-emperor once and he had so many wives and concubines that one in a couple hundred men could trace their genealogy straight back to him.”

   Lotor’s jaw actually dropped in shock. “You must be kidding.”

   Lance shook his head. “Nope. I heard it on some _top ten_ TV show and then I did some research on it and, yeah, a fuckton of people are related to that guy.”

   “I imagine he didn’t get much sleep, did he?”

   It was surprisingly easy to laugh around Lotor. “Probably not. Must’ve had a good time, though.”

   “He must have. Although, I do have one other question.”

   “Hm?”

   “What’s _TV_?”

   For a moment there, Lance had almost forgotten that Lotor was an alien that knew nothing about Earthen culture. “Television. It’s like… God, how do I explain it? People have these little boxes in their houses, okay, and other people record actors doing things, and then the video gets translated into waves or something and sent to people’s boxes. Kinda like the message you sent us, but you usually need a dish or an antenna or something to get the signal to watch the thing.”

   Lotor nodded. “We have something like that,” he said. “I wonder how much our people have in common. I would be very grateful if you would tell me more about Earth. I enjoy learning about new places, you see. I haven’t had the chance to visit Earth, so I would love to hear all about it.”

   This was it, Lance thought. This was his chance to make up for that shitty question he had asked. “That sounds fun,” he said. “I’m, uh, sorry, by the way. About earlier. I wasn’t actually saying that I didn’t want to get to know you. I was kinda worried about how negotiations would be affected, y’know? It wasn’t anything personal, I swear.”

   Something sparked in Lance’s chest and spread through his body when Lotor smiled at him again. “I’m glad to hear that. I was a bit concerned that I had frightened you away.”

   “Nah. You gotta do worse if you wanna scare me off.” He shrugged cockily. “I don’t scare easy.”

   It was Lotor who laughed that time and Lance’s breath faltered at the sound of it. It was a deep laugh, rich and real, absolutely beautiful. “Evidently,” Lotor said, some of his laugh bleeding over into his words and sending a shiver down Lance’s spine. “Otherwise you _certainly_ would have screamed when I found you.”

   “Fuck you,” Lance said with a grin and an eyeroll. “That doesn’t count.”

   Lotor looked down at the paladin. He was still smiling. In the light of the flickering torch, Lance could see the amused gleam in his eyes. “I wonder. If I left your side, would you be able to find your own way back to your room?” He paused, taking in the look on Lance’s face. “I’m not always the best at reading people, but that look tells me you couldn’t. You weren’t paying attention to where you were going, were you?”

   Lance groaned. “No. I wasn’t.”

   He jumped when Lotor wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “Come. I’ll take you back. It’s in your best interest to be in your room when your friends wake up, you know. We can talk as we go.”

   And there it was _again._ That _feeling_. That heat that formed where Lotor touched and spread, burning through Lance’s veins as they walked. Okay, so maybe he hadn’t been feeling it before just because he was tired. Maybe he was actually losing his mind. Cool. Great. No problem there. Everything was totally fine.

   He took a deep breath and tried to think of something, anything, that would take his mind off of the contact. He found himself asking, “That butler that was leading us around earlier. Why doesn’t he talk?”

   Lotor’s voice was completely level and calm when he replied, “I cut out his tongue.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "But Spence!!" you may say, "you tagged that Lotor isn't a douchebag!!" to which I must reply that I meant Lotor is not a douchebag to Lance I never promised he'd be a 100000000000000% good guy ((and yes our Mongol warlord-slash-emperor is our boy Genghis Khan))


	4. Cold Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even with their relationship thus far, Lance wonders what he is in the eyes of Lotor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tbh I've had this chapter done for a couple days now because I'm writing ahead since I have a schedule for this one so ye

   Lance was silent for a moment as the words sunk in. He knew that Lotor was no angel, of course. It wasn’t like he had showed up at the castle thinking that the Emperor had never hurt a fly; in fact, he was willing to bet that there were dungeons somewhere in the castle that were currently occupied by prisoners slated for intense torture at some point or another. Lotor wasn’t his father, but he was the Emperor of the _Galra Empire_. Galra, historically, were not overly kind to their enemies.

   Lotor himself had probably spent time down in the dungeons, cutting people apart from either his father’s orders or his own desire to see blood. Lance really didn’t know what he was like in his free time, when he was by himself behind a closed door.

   He swallowed nervously before he found his voice, but he still did not break away from Lotor. “You cut his tongue out? Why?”

   “He was a liar and a cheat,” Lotor said. A hint of anger had worked its way into his voice. “He spoke of things he had no knowledge of and acted as though he was an expert on all matters. More than once he had spoken when he had no right to do so. That man has always been a part of my life here. When I was just _Prince_ Lotor, I had to do what my father said and my father said that I must learn to deal with people like him. I had no choice but to live with his unasked for words.” He took a deep breath to calm himself and sighed it out. “Then I became Emperor Lotor and I decided I had finally had enough of hearing him run his mouth. He's a good servant, you see, so I didn't want to kill him and struggle to find someone else who could serve me half as well as he has, so I elected to take matters into my own hands. I had him tied down and I cut out his tongue myself.”

   Lance stared at his feet as they walked. He raised his free hand to his mouth, imagined what it would be like to watch someone loom over you with a knife. To watch someone wrench open your mouth, to feel their fingers reaching in and then tasting them as they grabbed the muscle. To have your mouth flooded with your own blood when the cut was made.

   But it could've been worse, right? Lotor had still had the mercy to let him live, to take his shot at life and romance and everything life had left to offer instead of slitting his throat. It was only his tongue. God, he didn't know why he was trying to come up with some justification or excuse that made that act any less horrendous, and yet there he was, trying to convince himself that it wasn't _that_ bad.

   “What kind of lies did he tell?” Lance asked, lowering his hand and gripping the torch a little tighter.

   Lotor shook his head. “I will not repeat them, at least not now. All you need to know is that he has always been a foul man with a foul heart. You do not need to concern yourself with him. He will not bother you.”

   “It's just, I dunno, I mean, where I'm from we stopped doing that kind of thing a long time ago.”

   “Does it frighten you to know what I have done?”

   “I'm not scared of _you_ ,” Lance said, somewhat shocked by his own honesty; his heart had told him that he trusted Lotor while his mind told him that he might not have been the best person to trust, but he had always been more emotional than logical. Even now, under the arm of a man who had mutilated someone for saying things he disliked. “I'm just a bit scared of what you can do.”

   Lance couldn't see the amused smile that spread across Lotor’s face. “And I am a bit scared of what _you_ can do, Blue Paladin of Voltron. I know you are far from helpless.”

   “I doubt I could take you in a fistfight,” Lance said.

   “Perhaps not. But I could not out shoot you. You are a very skilled marksman, you know.”

   The flickering of the torch hid the blush Lance felt creeping up and across his face. “I bet you can stand the sight of blood a lot better than I can.”

   Lotor played with a small bit of Lance’s hair. “If you lured me into the water, it would be in my best interest to make peace with the gods. You would decimate me.”

   “Why do you keep trying to compliment me?” Lance asked, now looking up at Lotor’s face.

   Lotor looked down at him in return. “Why do you deflect my compliments and return the praise instead of accepting the notion?”

   All Lance could manage to whisper in response was, “I don't deserve all of that praise, not from you.”

   “Why do you say that?”

   “You're an _Emperor._ I'm just _me._ ”

   “And _you_ impress me very much.”

   “But _why_?”

   They stopped walking when Lotor indicated that they were back to Lance’s room. Lance broke away from Lotor’s arm and returned the torch he carried to its mount on the wall. When he turned back around to face the man, Lotor put his hand under Lance’s chin and raised his face to look him in the eyes. “Lance,” he said, “I have been impressed with you from the moment I first saw you. Perhaps you think you are unworthy of praise and love, and maybe where you come from they consider you to be _ordinary_ instead of _extraordinary_ , but I do not see it that way. I see you asー”

   The door on the other side of the hall swung open and Hunk stepped out, rubbing his eyes and yawning. “Lance?” he asked. “What's goin’ on out here?” He stretched out his arms before he managed to open his eyes all the way. He made a very confused and concerned noise when he did. “Emperor Lotor?”

   Lotor waved a hand at the yellow one. Quite honestly, he couldn't be bothered to remember any of their names beyond Lance’s. The big one was just… the yellow one. “Be at ease,” he said in spite of his own pride as a ruler. “You may simply call me by my name, if you prefer.” He preferred to impress Lance, to show him that he was more than bloodthirsty. He had already admitted to cutting out a man’s tongue. The least he could do was be accepting towards Lance’s friends.

   “Lotor, then,” the yellow one amended. “Is something wrong?”

   Lance shook his head a bit. “Nah. We're good. I couldn't sleep so I decided to look around a bit. Ran into Lotor. Everything's fine.”

   Normally when Lance said that _everything’s fine_ , it wasn't fine. He usually had a tone of voice that was screaming for help without actually admitting he needed help. This time, Hunk thought, was different. Lance sounded genuine, like everything really was fine. He was doing alright. “I just heard you talking,” Hunk said. “Figured I'd come check on you. You sure you're good? Didn't get scared out there?”

   “I'm good,” Lance promised. “I was just gonna go back to bed. Don't worry.” He looked away from Hunk and to Lotor. “Thank you. For bringing me back here, I mean. I would've been lost without you.”

   “Quite literally, yes?” Lotor asked with a grin.

   Lance rolled his eyes in mock annoyance. “Yes, _literally._ Thank you. Goodnight, Lotor.” He looked back to Hunk. “G’night, Hunk.”

   Hunk replied with his own, “G’night.” He waited until Lance was back in his room and the door had been shut before returning to his own room. He had a lot of questions that he just couldn't ask right now. They'd have to wait until morning.

   Well, it wasn't like his questions were gonna run off without him. He could wait.

 

*

 

   “You _what_?” Allura demanded, raising from her seat and staring down at Lance. He sat across the dining table from her as they ate their breakfast. After they had all eaten dinner separately, Lotor had sent servants around to gather the paladins and the Alteans and bring them to eat breakfast together.

   Lance took a sip of his drink. It was a bright orange color, sweet and smooth. He set the glass back down. “It's not a big deal. We just talked a bit and then he brought me back to my room. It's not like I got on my knees for him or anything.”

   Allura rubbed her left temple. “As happy as I am to hear that, you shouldn't have gone out by yourself in the middle of the night. He could have killed you!”

   “But he didn't!” Lance also stood, now daring to look her in the eyes. “You're being ridiculous, you and Hunk and Keith. All of you. You convinced yourselves that he's some evil bastard but none of you have even _talked_ to him beyond _negotiations_ and the tiny questions he asked then. You can't just judge people before you've had a real conversation with them!”

   Keith groaned rather loudly. “He's a _murderer_ , Lance.”

   “His people destroyed mine,” Allura said as if anyone had forgotten. “He is the son of my worst enemy, and you think that I'm not going to _doubt_ him?”

   “He is not his father!” Lance practically screamed, drowning out everyone else’s voices and the sounds of their silverware. Everyone’s eyes fell on him, some in shock and some in disbelief. Lance let out a shaky breath. “You're being unfair,” he said as he sat back down. “You can't say someone is guilty because of something someone else did.”

   Hunk had sat next to Lance that morning. He reached over and laid a hand on Lance’s shoulder. “Lance. Are you okay?”

   Lance nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. It’s just…” He sighed. “We're supposed to be the defenders of the universe, right? We’re supposed to be the good guys. How can we do that if we condemn an entire group of people for the acts of a few?” He picked at what might have been a strangely colored egg. “I _know_ Zarkon was an asshole. I _know_ he probably raised Lotor to be an asshole, too. And he is, I'm not gonna lie to you guys. He's an asshole. He cut a dude’s tongue out. Normal people don't do that. But he's _trying._ Maybe you guys don't see it right now, but… you would. You would if you'd just give him a chance.”

   The dining room door opened before anyone could say anything else. One of the servants that still had a tongue had appeared, black robes flowing around him and face-covering quivering ever so slightly as he breathed. “Emperor Lotor summons you to today’s meeting if you have finished your breakfast. You can bring any food you haven't finished but would like to with you, if you wish.”

   A lot of shoving food into mouths and taking long drinks ensued, all in the name of not having to bring food with them. Their meeting that day wasn't much more eventful than the last. Instead of talking about the things they all loved and instead of Allura making underhanded comments about the dissolution of the Empire, they begun to outline their demands. After their demands had been laid out and they knew what each side wanted, they would be able to begin making compromises on issues they didn't agree with and finding solutions for issues they both saw as problems. It would take time. Lots of time and negotiating and bickering and arguing and yelling. Lance’s outburst at the dining table went forgotten among the surprise that everyone in the room agreed on ditching Zarkon’s use of slave labor on every planet he conquered, even more surprise when Lotor agreed to halt expansion of the Empire if it meant peace among their groups.

   There was less agreeing on issues like resource management and distribution, arms and ammunitions, armies, existing alliances, and, most boring of them all, _economics._ Lance tuned most of that out, save for the part about helping the less fortunate. If they managed to abolish slave labor, every person with a job would need to be paid. There was no promise they would all be paid fairly. Lance brought up the concept of social programs, saying that they could be adapted to fit the Empire’s needs and telling Lotor that it was a pretty common thing on Earth that helped out the people who needed it.

   He blushed a little and nodded when Lotor asked if Lance would please tell him more about them some other day. He was happy to tell the Emperorーthe _alien_ Emperorーabout the intricacies of human economies. Truthfully, he has always found the subject to be rather boring and confusing, but he was more than willing to dredge up his suppressed memories of high school economics and finance classes to teach Lotor about Earth.

   As the meeting droned on and everyone threw out ideas, Lance wondered if it was too early for him to call Lotor a _friend._ They hadn't gotten to talk too much just yet, but he had enjoyed the conversations they had been able to have. Considering his past experiences with the Galra, Lotor was especially friendly. Friendly, kind, humorous, willing to learn, and entirely too attractive what with his state of being a _literal alien_ to Lance.

   Despite _everything_ , Lance had finally come to conclusion that he was neither exhausted or losing his mind. He _actually_ thought the giant purple elf man was attractive. The way his hair fell, the unexpected emotion in his eyes, the curve of his lips when he smiled… And then Lance pulled himself away from those thoughts, reminding himself that he was just a little human boy from Cuba and his best qualities were his humor and his ability to be a paladin. Reminding himself that the man at the head of the table, the one who kept looking at him and smiling at him and occasionally _touching_ him was far beyond his reach. A ruler of planets, an owner of stars. Not just a man with an Empire that stretched across a continent, but a man with an Empire that stretched across the universe.

   Lance wondered if maybe Lotor treated him the way he did because he saw him as a child. All the compliments could very well have been the type one would give to an elementary school child that brought home a paper covered in messy paint and said that it was a painting of the family. The touches could have been no more than the kind he would give to a brother or a nephew, not the kind he would give to a romantic interest.

   If he had been counting how many times he'd wanted to bash his own head against something in the past few days, he would probably be incredibly concerned about the number. He barely knew the guy. He just thought that Lotor was attractive, that was _it._ There was nothing wrong with that and there was no reason whatsoever to get his hopes up that maybe, just maybe on some off chance, Lotor had the slightest romantic attraction to him. Did the Galra even do romance? For all Lance knew, they all hated each other and only hooked up based on mating cycles to keep the species from going extinct.

   Although, that might not be _so_ bad. He'd heard about weird alien mating cycles and, really, he’d probably be willing to give it a shot. Having someone lose their mind for awhile over _him_ for a change…

   Lance asked to be excused from the meeting, just for a moment to run to the restroom. The first female servant he had seen in the castle took him to the nearest one and waited outside as Lance stuck his head under the faucet and let cold water flow through his hair, run down his face, and drip into the sink and swirl down the drain. He changed his mind. It wasn't just that he thought Lotor was attractive. He really was going insane. He was losing it. What was he even _thinking_? God, maybe it was the food. It was alien food, after all, so maybe it had that sort of effect on humans. He made a small mental note to ask one of the others if they had been feeling any different or if it was just his system getting fucked with.

   He exited the bathroom and thanked the servant when she held the door of the meeting room open for him. The door shut behind him. He blinked in confusion when he saw that the room was empty except for Lotor, still seated at the table and watching Lance as he walked in. “We’ve decided to take a brief lunch break,” Lotor said. “I stayed behind to let you know.” He stood gracefully and crossed the room to stand in front of Lance. Lance could feel his heart beating hard in his chest as Lotor put his hand on the right side of Lance’s face, touching him gently and smiling softly. “And I would like to ask, do you have any plans for the night?”

   “Not really,” Lance replied. He prayed that his voice didn’t shake too much as he spoke; he had great faith in Lotor and he trusted him, he really did, but he doubted there would ever come a time where he wasn’t intimidated by him. “Why?”

   “I thought we could spend some time together, perhaps not in the dark this time.” His thumb traced small circles on Lance’s skin, leaving behind a gentle burn but no marks even though Lance could have sworn he felt real sparks. “I like to see your face when we talk.”

   Oh, that was _so_ unfair. It took all of his strength for Lance to not melt right then and there. Lotor probably didn't even know what he was doing to him. “That, um, that sounds good,” he said, mentally cursing himself for so easily losing his words when it came to Lotor. “We could hang out at that hot spring you told me about. I mean, if you still wanna do that. It sounds nice, but if I can’t accept that invitation anymore, that’s fine. I just thoughtー”

   Lotor chuckled in that deep, mesmerizing way of his. “Of course the invitation is still open. I truly would love that. You and your friends will be eating dinner in the dining room tonight, and after that you are scheduled to go back to your rooms or go looking around the castle. I ask only that you return to your room so I can come and get you.”

   Lance sighed in relief. “That works for me. It’s okay if I let someone know, isn’t it? Allura freaked out when I told everyone about us running into each other last night when nobody knew where I was and I was on my own. She couldn’t freak out _too_ badly if I had told someone where I went, y’know. As long as somebody knows where to go if they think I’ve been missing for too long. They worry too much.”

   “They cherish you,” Lotor said. “They value you more than you could ever comprehend. I’ve seen it. If anything happened to you under my watch, it would not be long before they had my head on a spike. You are more than welcome to tell whoever you wish, though I must say I would prefer if you told the green one or the black one. They seem reasonable.”

   “Pidge and Shiro,” Lance corrected.

   “Yes, yes. Those two.”

   Lance rolled his eyes in amusement. “Alright,” he agreed. “I’ll tell them.”

   He couldn’t help but feel a little sad when Lotor thanked him and withdrew his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hang in there y'all I've got some fun shit goin on in the next chapter


	5. First Sight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance goes to the hot springs with Lotor. He expected it to be a bit awkward, but he didn't expect any of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man I hope y'all are as happy about this as I am because I loved writing this chapter

   The servant who had taken him to the bathroom then escorted him to the dining room where lunch was waiting for him. It was a rich meal of noodles reminiscent of thick ramen, fresh greens, and a sweet roll of bread. They briefly discussed the goings on of the day thus far as they sped through the meal, ready to get back to the room to continue the meeting. The meeting was continued when the last bowl was emptied and everyone had filed back in to take their seats.

   There were more requests and demands thrown around, a few scoffs at absurdities and a few jaws dropping at surprising agreements. By the time the sun was starting to set, a long list of topics had been written by the tongueless butler that stood behind and to the side of Lotor’s chair. Lance tried not to look at that man too much, tried not to think about what had happened to him that rendered him permanently speechless. Before he knew it, the meeting was being wrapped up and the list was being stored away and they were being shooed off to the dining room for their final meal of the day. Their meal was a beautiful cut of meat, again one that Lance didn’t know the identity of but found that he enjoyed anyways, another selection of greens, and a small side of what might have been the Galra’s equivalent of rice.

   Since Lance’s outburst at breakfast, Allura had managed to calm herself slightly, listening more to Lotor instead of looking at him with nothing but scorn. It was only day two, but Lance thought that maybe he had done enough good that she would be able to open up and see him as more than just a less-ugly version of Zarkon. It would take as much patience as the negotiations themselves would take, but it was progress and he had heard once or twice that any progress was good. Even Hunk had relaxed a bit, but not Keith. He still looked around with wariness and distrust. He ate slowly, carefully watching everyone else eat and tasting everything like any part of it might be poisoned. Like he might choke if he swallowed the wrong thing. Lance said nothing about it; it was only day two and Keith was a stubborn person, no matter how much sense anyone else made. He’d come around eventually, most likely, but there was nothing that could accelerate the process.

   Lance grabbed a sleeve of both Pidge and Shiro’s shirts during the walk back to their rooms, hauling them with him to the back of the group. “I wanted someone to know where I’m going tonight,” Lance told them before they could ask. “Allura is gonna be super mad if I go off alone again without anyone knowing.”

   Pidge smirked. “Are you gonna go on another date with Lotor?”

   “ _Pidge_ ,” Shiro reprimanded. “Don’t.”

   “What?” she asked. “You heard him talking about hanging out with him last night. That was about as close to a date as you can get without actually going on a date.”

   “We’ve known him for two days, Pidge. Lance isn’t already _dating_ him. People can have friends.”

   “Oh, _please._ ”

   “Stop it, Pidge.” Shiro gave her a stern look before returning his gaze to Lance. “Will you be with him, though?”

   Lance nodded, a bit confused about the conversation he had witnessed. He chalked it up to Pidge acting like the gremlin she occasionally said she was. “Uh, yeah. I am. We were gonna talk a bit. He probably wants me to explain more Earth stuff. No big deal.”

   “Where’re you gonna go?” Pidge asked.

   “Well…”

   Pidge silently staring at him and waiting for a response was somehow more intimidating than any threat she had ever given anyone. She was small and generally a dork, but she grew up with a brother. Anyone with brothers had, at some point or another, perfected a look that would get the brother to hand over the bag or chips or spill a huge secret. Pidge’s _look_ was especially effective on Lance, considering he had kind of fallen into a brotherly role with her.

   He broke under her stare and admitted, “Okay, well, when we first showed up here he invited me to see some hot springs here and we were planning to go do that, so.”

   Shiro shushed Pidge when she started to snicker. “That sounds nice,” he said, clamping his human hand over Pidge’s mouth. Her voice was muffled as she tried to say whatever she was planning to say. Shiro spoke over her attempts at words. “Should we expect you back at any particular time?”

   “I dunno how long we’ll be gone, no,” Lance replied. “I guess you should come looking for me if I’m not back by whatever passes for midnight around here.”

   Shiro agreed to that, telling Lance to be safe and careful and to bring a knife or something with him but still have a good time. He pulled Pidge with him as he rejoined the main group, not taking his hand off her mouth until they were back with everyone. Lance trailed behind, listening to them quietly bickering. Pidge said something about how Shiro needed to lighten up and Shiro said something about Pidge needing to mind her own business, especially right now during these initial days of their relationship with Lotor’s version of the Empire. Lance considered what Pidge had said about _another date with Lotor_ as they arrived at the hallway that had been dedicated as theirs. He went into his room, closed the door, sat on the edge of his bed, and waited.

   Lotor didn’t keep him waiting long. Lance sat with his thoughts for what must have been less than ten minutes before there was a knock at the door. He went to answer it immediately, opening the door and smiling widely at Lotor without fully realizing he was doing it. Lotor smiled back. “Are you ready to go?” he asked.

   “Of course,” Lance replied. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

   Lotor extended his arm, clearly meaning for Lance to take it despite the awkwardness that would ensue because of their height difference. And Lance took it.

 

*

 

   Lance wasn’t a complete idiot. He knew the way outdoor hot springs usually worked back on Earth; the way people usually splashed themselves with warm water and rinsed themselves clean before getting in, the tying up of long hair, that sort of thing. He had to admit to thinking that the rules for hot springs out in space would be a bit different. He had imagined… clothes. He had thought he could at least wear some swim trunks or _something_ into the springs like most Western places on Earth allowed, but apparently that wasn’t a thing he could do. Hot springs etiquette was pretty much the same no matter where you went. He explained to Lotor that, in the part of the world he was from, hot springs were visited while wearing swimsuits because humans had gotten it into their heads that nudity was sexual by nature. Lotor told him that the Galra did not think the same way. Clothing was worn as a symbol of status among their people, not because of some ridiculous sense that it was obscene to be seen without any. He even went so far as to promise to sit on the opposite side of the pool if it would make Lance more comfortable, but he couldn't promise he would make any effort to hide himself. It wasn't in his nature.

   Lance accepted the offer and pretended like he was sure he wasn’t going to _die._

   He managed to survive the initial cleaning process and grabbed a towel to wrap around himself as he walked out to the pool. He hung the towel over the handrail of the steps that led into the water, thankfully managing to get in and comfortable without incident. He sighed happily, closing his eyes and letting himself sink down far enough for the hot water to reach his chin. He had gone to a hot springs with his family when he was youngerーone of the _Western_ ones that allowed clothesーand had enjoyed it immensely, but this place was _totally_ different. He could probably go to sleep right there in the water, all nice and warm and relaxed as the heat drained every last bit of tension from his muscles. All he needed was a pillow to put behind his head and the edge of the pool and he’d be good to go.

   He opened one eye when he heard Lotor getting into the water. He had tied his long hair back into a ponytail that looked far nicer than any ponytail Lance had ever seen on a guy from Earth; Lotor’s hair could put any human to shame, so it wasn't like the hair was the problem. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out what _was_ the problem. While it was good to know that Galra anatomy didn't much differ from human anatomy, when Lance saw _all_ of him instead of just the nice ponytail, he closed his eye again _immediately._ It wasn't that he had forgotten the whole _naked_ thing, no, it was just… Lotor had been telling the truth when he said he would not be making much of an effort to hide himself. Any of himself. Nothing whatsoever. He was perfectly comfortable in his own skin and nothing else. And, not to be crude, but Lance couldn’t help but notice that, uh, Lotor was rather well endowed. Not that he was looking on purpose or anything.

   “You can open your eyes now, Lance,” Lotor said after a moment. He was sitting on the bench across the pool, now with most of his body underwater. He had an amused grin on his face. “You're blushing. Your people embarrass easily, don't they?”

   “I guess. I mean, in the parts of the world where people go to hot springs naked, the pools are separated by sex. There's one for guys and one for girls, y'know, which makes sense, but, I mean, I'm just… not totally straight? So I'm a bit nervous?” Lance’s nerves sent his voice upwards at the end of those sentences as if they were questions. If he could have kicked himself, he would have.

   Lotor’s grin changed from amusement to something else. His voice lowered and became obnoxiously flirtatious as he said, “Is that so? I didn't realize humans were capable of being attracted to my kind. Is that why you always act so cute around me?”

   “I don't act _cute._ Shut up.”

   “Oh, but you _do._ You must not realize you're doing it.” He leaned forward a little ways. “Tell me, Lance. Are you attracted to me?”

   “Could you please not ask that question when we’re both naked in a hot springs pool?”

   “Answer me.” Lotor’s voice was deep and demanding as he ordered a response. The kind of voice that made Lance want to submit.

   Lance looked away before he could entertain the thought any further. It had only been two days. Did he really want to go down that road? If he said no, there was a good chance that Lotor would drop the conversation and respect his boundaries and forget that this conversation ever took place. If he admitted that, yes, he _was_ attracted to Lotor, there was no telling what would happen next.

   Oh.

   He knew that he had thought Lotor was gorgeous every time he looked at him. He knew that he thought Lotor was attractive. But that was the first time Lance realized that the heat burning through his veins when Lotor got close wasn’t _just_ attraction. It was more than that.

   Oh.

   It wasn't because he thought that nudity was inherently sexual that he blushed and closed his eyes when Lotor got into the pool. It was because he was _stunning._ Every inch of him was fucking flawless. Lance wondered what it would feel like to be held in those arms, to rest his head on that chest, to hear the strong beat of that heart. And he found himself wondering what a few other things would feel like; he had told Allura at breakfast that _it's not like I got down on my knees for him_ , but looking at him now, well, maybe that wouldn't be so bad.

_Oh._

   “Yes,” he found the courage to say, “I am attracted to you. I guess. A bit. I meanー”

   Lotor chuckled. “ _That_ is what I was talking about when I said you act so cute. You're shy, you stutter and stumble over your words, and you blush and look away. It's adorable.”

   “Is that all you see me as?” Lance asked in what might as well have been a whisper.

   “I beg your pardon?”

   “Is that all you see me as?” he repeated. “Cute, I mean.” He could feel his cheeks burning as he spoke. “If I'm just like some little kid to you, like a brother or a nephew or a cousin or whatever, then I'd really like to know that before we do anything else from here.”

   Lotor’s face looked like he had just been offered the worst insult of his life. He sounded almost angry when he asked, “Are you _serious_? You think I see you as a _child_? If the big yellow one hadn't interrupted our conversation at your door last night, you would know better.”

   “Hunk,” Lance said. “His name is Hunk.”

   “Alright. Fine. If _Hunk_ hadn't interrupted us, I would have been able to finish telling you that I see you as the most stunning creature in the universe.”

   Wait. “What?”

   “From the _moment_ I laid eyes on you, I wanted nothing more than to make you _mine._ But you humans do things differently than we do. I've done my research on your kind and I discovered that you tend to take your time getting to know someone, yes? It takes _time_ for your people to fall in love.” Lotor’s speech had been rushed and intense with emotion. He took a deep breath and slowly let it back out. “My people do not love lightly. There are times when we will become infatuated with someone, but that infatuation always passes.”

   “So, what, you're infatuated with me or somethin’?”  Lance interrupted, sounding a bit irritated and offended. “And it'll pass. So I shouldn't get too attached to you. Right?

   “Would you please be a dear and _let me finish_?”

   His irritation faded. “Uh, yeah. Sorry.”

   “Thank you.” Lotor cleared his throat and leaned back. “I also discovered that your people have a termー _love at first sight_ ーthat refers to the act of feeling as though you have fallen in love with someone the first time you see them. It is a naive concept considering human nature. As for _my_ people, however, that is as good a term as any to describe it. There is a certain belief among the Galra that true love is saved only for the person, or _people_ in a rare case, that the universe has made for us. According to our belief, there is no one, save those who were born to feel no attraction whatsoever, who does not have a significant other that they will one day find. We experience a phenomenon in which, when we encounter the one the universe made for us, we _know._ It is an undeniable experience, unlike any other we could possibly have. It is at the core of our romantic relationships. It keeps our species from facing extinction, for otherwise our brief infatuation periods would be our only hope at procreation. The moment you see the right person, everything falls into place and no one else could ever replace them.” He smiled in that way that made Lance’s heart pound in his chest. “That is what I felt when I first saw you.”

   “Like a soulmate kind of thing?

   “Yes, you could call it that.”

   Lance swallowed nervously. “So, what exactly are you saying?”

   “Isn't it obvious?” Lotor replied. “The way I see it, the universe made us for each other. You and I were meant to be together. I am in love with you, Lance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “ψ(｀∇´)ψ  
> Also I might change the rating after this chapter??? I dunno maybe I'll wait for another chapter or two but it's gotta change eventually I have some Plans


	6. Perfect Person

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Lotor now get to work through the aftermath of Lotor's confession.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ha this one is gay

   It took a minute or two for Lance to realize that Lotor wasn't joking. In that time, they sat silently, staring across the pool at each other. On Lance’s face was confusion, hopefulness mixed with hopelessness on Lotor’s.

   “Did you just say you're in love with me?”

   “Yes. I suppose I did.” Lotor pulled his ponytail over his shoulder, suddenly fascinated by his own hair. He was rather clearly in a state of disbelief, like he just could _not_ believe what he had just said. He shut his eyes tightly, mentally berating himself, before tossing his hair back over his shoulder and looking up at Lance once again. “I had not intended on telling you all of this so soon. I truly was going to wait a few days until I was sure that there was a possibility of you accepting my feelings, but it would seem I do not have the self-control I thought I did. Please, accept my apologies for springing this upon you. I… understand if you would like to take your leave now.”

   Lance had never heard that the Galra were capable of blushing, but if they were, that was what Lotor was doing. His face, usually a rather pale purple in comparison to some of the other Galra Lance had seen, had darkened considerably on his cheeks. Holy _shit_. That was actually _cute._ That was the first thing Lotor had done since Lance met him that was genuinely, one-hundred percent _cute_ , not attractive with cute layered underneath. He couldn’t help but smile. “You’re right,” he said. “Humans do tend to take time to fall in love. But that’s not to say that we don’t find ourselves attracted to someone in the process of falling in love and, trust me, humans have _shit_ senses of self-control. A lot can happen before the first ‘ _I love you’_ gets said.”

   He looked down at the surface of the water, down at the reflection he could see beyond the thin layer of steam rising from the water. In an insane moment of courage, he stoodーgrateful that the water was deep enough to rise a few inches above his bellybuttonーand slowly made his way across the pool to sit next to Lotor. Not touching him, of course, but close enough. “I don’t see a reason for me to leave.”

   Lotor’s eyes hadn’t left Lance as he moved to sit beside him. A smile returned to his face. “I am glad to hear that,” he said. “I was worried I had finally done enough to scare you away.”

   Lance shrugged. “You still gotta do worse if you wanna scare me off.”

   “You’re so brave.”

   “Or maybe you just aren’t scary.”

   “Do you really think that?”

   “I do. _You_ aren’t scary. The things you’re capable of are pretty scary, yeah, but I’ve never been afraid of _you_. I’ve been intimidated once or twice, but never scared.”

   “Except the time I managed to sneak up on you in the hallway.”

   Lance rolled his eyes and sighed exasperatedly. “You’re never gonna let me forget that, are you?”

   “Of course not.” His smile grew into a shit-eating grin. “How could I? You have a very interesting scream. Is it always like that?”

   “That was my _got snuck up on_ scream, thank you very much. It’s not always like that. Fuck you.”

   He got a laugh in response. Then Lotor said, “I get the feeling that your use of _fuck you_ , pardon my language, is meant to be an insult, and yet you sound so much like it’s a joke when you say that to me. What does it mean?”

   “God, you’ve got a lot to learn about humans. It can be either an insult or a joke and it’s all in the tone. You’d know if I meant it.”

   “That sounds… surprisingly reasonable for humans. I suppose I do still have a lot to learn, which brings me to my next question. Also, what is _God_? You keep mentioning it.”

   “Who. God is a _who_. He’s a religious thing, which is something I would really rather not talk about right now. Religion on Earth is _insanely_ complicated.”

   Lotor sighed and looked away from Lance, off into the distance like he was getting overwhelmed and needed a rest. “Earth is complicated.”

   Lance nodded, also looking up at the stars while he spoke. “Yeah. It is. But if you ever visit, you’ll love it. You really will. You can’t visit Earth and _not_ love the place. It’s incredible, it really is, y’know.”

   “I do not think your kind as a whole would be very accepting of me.” When he was done sorting through the new information Lance had given him and they were both done staring off into space, he looked back to the human boy sitting beside him. “I can tell even with the small sampling of your friends that not all humans are as accepting as you are.”

   “I wish I could deny that.”

   “Do not worry yourself over it. There is prejudice and fear among my people as well. There is no perfect society in this universe.”

   “Guess not.”

   “However,” Lotor continued, “I do believe there is a perfect _person_.”

   “ _Please_ tell me you aren’t so cheesy that you mean me.”

   “Oh, I most certainly mean that it’s you.”

   “For fuck’s sake.”

   Lotor shifted awkwardly. Lance found that strange, not because it was odd to readjust given that he had moved to sit next to Lotor from where he had previously been sitting across the way, but because it was _awkwardly._ Thus far, Lotor had done nothing that didn’t ooze grace and sophistication. To see him like this, awkward and like _he_ was the one embarrassed for a change, was a new experience. Lance wasn’t sure how he felt about it. It had been one thing when Lotor blushed and looked all _cute_ , but moving _awkwardly_ was… Lance shooed away the thought when Lotor said, “I have one last question for tonight.”

   “Alright. Hit me with it.”

   There was a brief pause as Lotor tried to find the right words for his question. If he asked it the wrong way, it may not end well and he knew that. He had to do this the right way. Humans were different from the Galra, he reminded himself. He couldn’t rush headfirst into this. He had to be kind, had to be gentle. Lance was so unbelievably _perfect_ , he couldn’t afford to ruin this moment. Over the course of Lotor’s life, he had never felt the need to be so polite and patient. Since he had been born into royalty, he had grown used to getting whatever he wanted whenever he wanted it so long as his father did not forbid it. This was different. _Lance_ was different. That was why it took so long for him to figure out how to ask his question.

   He decided on a simple, “May I kiss you?”

   Despite himself, Lance nodded rather enthusiastically. “Yeah.” He swallowed, a hint of nervousness working its way in among the enthusiasm. Still, be said, “Yeah, of course.”

   Lance thought to himself that he had never seen any light so beautiful as the one in Lotor’s eyes. The Emperor’s hand was warm from the water as he cupped Lance’s face and leaned downーtheir size difference certainly didn't help their situation at _all_ ーand towards him, slowly as not to make him more nervous than he already was. Lance met him halfway.

   The meeting was gentle at first. Soft lips against soft lips, a happy breath from what might have been one or both of them. Lance gave a little moan and leaned a little further towards Lotor. Lotor moved his hand from Lance’s face to hold his head, fingers tangling in his hair in a way that was possessive but not pushy. Lotor’s other hand moved through the water to rest on Lance’s hip; Lance, for the most part, lost awareness of the big picture. He was in a hot springs pool, outside underneath a sky full of stars and moons and planets seen in the distance, buck ass naked, kissing a man who had been his enemy, like, three days ago. But even if he had been fully aware of it all, none of that mattered. He finally surrendered and let himself melt, putting his hands up on Lotor’s shoulders as his only means of supporting himself. He wasn't sure that he wouldn't literally fall apart and he wasn't sure when they had turned so much that they were directly facing each other with their legs tucked underneath them and, frankly, he didn't _care._

   Then his lips parted and the kiss deepened and it was definitely not just the water making him hot anymore. Of _course_ he had kissed before and of _course_ he had gone all the way once or twice, but this stood apart from his past experiences. There was a passion in it that he had never felt. It was present in the way Lotor eagerly and yet gently slipped his tongue into Lance’s mouthーthank _fuck_ aliens kissed with tongue tooーand in the way he grabbed at strands of Lance’s hair and in the way he breathed heavily like this was the best damn experience of his life. That wasn't to say that Lance wasn't breathing heavily too, of course, as his heart raced and the short circuiting of his brain made his lungs have to work a little harder. He managed to keep up and not make himself look like an inexperienced fool, but _goddamn_ it was only a matter of him before he fucking lost it. For real this time, by the way, instead of just the lame way he had during his past interactions with the Emperor.

   Lotor pulled away for just a moment, just long enough for Lance to get a few panted breaths before resuming. It was getting hard to keep from making little noises as the kissing steadily got more intense. It was getting harder and harder to think, harder to even fucking remember his own name. And then he was thankful for the small amount of space between them because something _else_ was getting hard and _fucking hell_ it’d be embarrassing if Lotor noticed. He wouldn't be able to show his face for a week.

   They didn't break away again until they were surprised by a cheer and applause. They pulled away from each other in shock, looking in the direction the noise came from.

   “Pidge, I am going to _fucking kill you_!” Lance yelled at her, not really meaning it but almost wishing he did. The heat in his veins snapped away from pleasure and _wanting_ and changed to sudden embarrassment and anger. That little gremlin just _had_ to do this, didn't she?

   “You were late to get back and you _said_ to come looking for you if you were late,” she reminded, keeping a safe distance of about ten feet away from the edge of the pool. “I _knew_ you losers were on a date.”

   He groaned in humiliation and sunk down into the water, letting it come up to his top lip. This was it. This was how he was going to die. He didn't know exactly how Pidge’s arrival would result in his death, but it _definitely_ would.

   “Well?” she prompted. “Thought you were gonna kill me.”

   Lance raised a hand out of the water to flip her off, not that he could gather the will to mean the gesture in a malicious way. And she knew it. She always did. He wasn't sure they had ever _actually_ been angry with each other. Their arguments were usually just irritation and their humorous sibling-like bond.

   Then Pidge gasped. “Oh, my _God._ Are you naked in there? Is that why you won't get out and come fight me?”

   Yep. Lance was going to fucking die there.

 

*

 

   To avoid any further shame, Lance said goodnight to Lotor after he was calmed down enough to be able to get out of the pool, dried off, and dressed again. Lotor gave him another quick kiss before Pidge hauled Lance away, cackling about how she was totally right and she couldn't wait to tell Shiro all about it because they had _totally_ been betting on when someone would first catch those two trying to eat each other’s faces off. Lance briefly wondered what would have happened if Pidge hadn't shown up right then, though his musings were interrupted by more nonsense from Pidge.

   When they arrived at their hall, Lance said goodnight to her, too. And she ran off to Shiro’s room to tell him all about it, though Lance had made her _swear_ that Shiro would be the only one she told since he was the only other one who had known Lance was going out with Lotor that night. He changed into a pair of pajamas he found in his wardrobe and climbed into bed, hoping and praying that she didn't have her fingers crossed when she made that promise. But she was a good kid, he reminded himself. She wouldn't betray his trust. He was just being paranoid because he didn't want everyone _else_ to freak out about it and think he was being brainwashed or something.

   As he pulled the blankets up around him, he tried to forget the feeling Lotor was _in love_ with him and then feeling like it was true, just long enough for him to go to sleep. He failed. And he tried so, _so_ hard to keep his hands above the covers. He failed at that, too. He tried _so hard_ to distract himself, but he just couldn't get Lotor’s touch and lips out of his head.

   It was like he said. Humans had a shit sense of self-control. When the heat he had felt as they kissed crept back into his veins as the memory played on repeat, he just wasn't strong enough to keep from touching himself, thinking about Lotor while he did. What else could he think about? _Who_ else would he think about that night? Who else’s name would he whisper into a silent and empty room, desperately wishing that he was there? _This_ really was what all of those feelings had been. Not just attraction, but desire as well. A desire to have all of him, a desire to be _his._ Lotor had said that he had wanted to make Lance his and he'd be damned if he didn't let him.

   He immensely wished that it was the Emperor’s hands on him instead of his own as he came.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :3c  
> I think I'll be boosting the rating from T to M now??? I've been working my best on chapter eight which is when we can bump it up again aye


	7. Best Behavior

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lotor asks a simple question. He receives a favorable answer, and his and Lance's relationship continues down a favorable road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it's 12:06am and I'm on my laptop playing anime dress-up games like a weeaboo piece of shit, and I figured that since it's technically Friday for me now I'd go ahead and post this!

   Lance was no stranger to waking up in the morning and remembering the events of the previous day and being unbelievably embarrassed; he had grown up in such a large family, it was impossible for him to not have gone to bed and woken up feeling humiliated once or twice. He was not, however, accustomed to waking up and feeling shame. It wasn't that he was ashamed of what he had done with Lotorーfar from it, in factーbut he was ashamed of what he had done afterwards.  He was human and humans were flawed and occasionally disgusting, sure, but that didn't stop him from crawling out of bed and feeling like the scum of the Earth. Lotor probably wouldn't be _angry_ if he found out that he had worked his way into Lance’s late night fantasy, but…

   It took more effort than it should have to clear his mind enough to pick out some clothes that didn't make him look like a clown. He found a hairbrush lying on the vanity in the room and ran it through his hair. As he left the room and wandered to the dining room, he silently prayed that he didn't look suspicious. He took a deep breath and entered the room, walking over to take his place at the table.

   “Shiro told me you went to talk with Lotor last night,” Allura said as he sat.

   “Yeah, I did,” he confirmed. So far, so good. “He wanted to talk to me about the differences between how humans and Galra experience emotions.” Technically, that wasn’t a lie. “He was having a bit of trouble figuring out how to tell insults apart from jokes. I had to explain that to him.”

   “But why _you_?” Keith asked.

   “Because I’m nice to him, probably.” He shrugged. “I’m sure he’d talk to you about your Galra stuff, too. If you’d try to be nicer to him, anyways. You’re still confused about some of that, aren’t you?”

   Keith shoved some food into his mouth, chewing slowly to avoid the question for a moment. He eventually swallowed and said, “It’s not a big deal. I’m fine. He doesn’t like me, anyways. He looks at me like he wants to rip my throat out.”

   Lance rolled his eyes. “Of course he does. You want to do the same thing to him.”

   Keith nodded and shrugged. That was true. “He’s… I don’t wanna fuck with that. I’d rather just work with him in negotiations and leave it be. Have you heard the way he talks? God, he’s so fuckin’ _proud_ of himself. I can’t stand people like that and you know it.”

   Coran spoke next. “Did you kids have fun?”

   “I don’t think Lotor counts as a _kid_ ,” Lance said, “but yeah, we did. We had a nice chat. What did all of you guys do last night?”

   He successfully steered the conversation away from himself and to everyone else’s nights. Pidge didn’t mention what she had witnessed when she went to find Lance, only said that she went looking around outside to see what kind of gardens full of weird plants they had around there. Keith had gone off and found some kind of training room that he spent time in, fighting dummies and machines for a couple hours. Allura and Coran had asked one of the servants to lead them to a library and spent most of the night studying up on this planet in particular. It hadn't been inhabited ten thousand years ago, apparently, and they wanted to catch up on its history if they were going to be there for much longer. Shiro and Hunk had made the trek out to the hangar in the mountain to check on the castle and the lions. Everything was fine out there, they told the group, and they made their way back without any issue other than the fact that it was much farther away than it looked. If they needed to rush out to their lions for whatever reason, they wouldn’t have a good time getting out there.

   As was to be expected, that day’s meeting began right after breakfast was finished. Lotor spoke as calmly as ever, not letting on for an instant that he had confessed his love for Lance maybe twelve-ish hours before. Lance still wasn’t sure what the time system was like out here. Hell, he wasn’t sure what that the name of the planet was. Was it too late to ask? Probably. He would look like a dumbass if everyone else knew but he hadn’t been paying enough attention to find out. He held his tongue on the matter and listened to the day’s discussions, participating when it was needed and staying quiet when it wasn’t.

   For the first time since he had been sort-of abducted by Blue and hauled out to space to be wrapped up in a huge space war, he could feel himself falling back into a routine. Wake up, eat breakfast, go to a meeting, eat lunch, finish the meeting, eat dinner, free time, go to bed. He had thought that he missed a routine like this, that he longed for the days when things were predictable and he didn’t have to always be on edge, waiting for the next alarm to go off and the next battle to start. Despite the desire that he thought he had, this new routine didn’t settle as well as he would have thought. It reminded him too much of what life had been like in the Garrison. He was reminded of the days he spent trying so hard to catch up to Keith’s abilities, the days when he had been yelled at by instructors in every class, the days when he had been afraid to tell anyone that he liked boys as much as he liked girls, and the days that followed his admittance of it when he was verbally attacked and then when he had his first boyfriend. Troubled days, messy days, days he couldn’t _wait_ to leave behind and go out into space. He didn’t like it, not one bit, but there was one major difference between the monotony of the Garrison and the arrangement way out here. That _first boyfriend_ of his at the Garrison had often treated Lance like he was inferior, but out here… Lotor treated him like he deserved all the stars in the universe. And every night he had the option to go see him, to get to know this magnificent person he never would have met if he hadn't been so interested in what Pidge was sneaking outside to do that night all that time ago. He could step away from the daily repeat and be with someone who made him feel special.

   But waiting for the times when he could speak freely to the man he so desperately wanted to be near was horribly boring. He wasn't even sure why he had to be there for the meetings; he loved offering suggestions that may one day be worked into the negotiations and he loved feeling like his opinion was valued by the Emperor working so hard to improve his Galra Empire. He just didn't _get it._ It wasn't like he had any experience with formal affairs, so he found himself wondering why heーand Hunk and Pidge, who he knew didn't have any experience with this shit eitherーhad even been allowed to take part. This was Allura and Coran’s thing, maybe Shiro’s too. He had a feeling Keith definitely didn't have any experience. He was more of a stab-it-out than a talk-it-out kind of guy.

   Though the importance of the meetings was clear and though he knew that pouring in hours of effort would be necessary to make this all _work_ , Lance wouldn't have complained one bit if they had been able to cut down on meeting time and increase free time. There were only so many hours in a day and Lance needed to sleep once in awhile; he couldn't try to stay up as late as he could to talk to Lotor and then be at his best the next day.

   He wanted to punch himself for being so selfish again. There was more going on here than just his fucking love life. The entire universe would be affected by what happened within those walls and there he was, sitting and thinking about how he wished more of Lotor’s time was available to him. Could anyone really blame him, though? None of the others knew, but Lotor had _literally_ told Lance that he was in love with him. How could he _not_ want to spend more time with him, to get to know him better, to see if his desire to be with Lotor could change from nothing but a desire to being love? Lotor had looked him dead in the eyes and said, _“I am in love with you.”_

   That statement was equal parts thrilling and terrifying.

   He lost track of time as the day droned on. The time finally came for dinner and a rest.

   “Would it be alright if I ate dinner with all of you?” Lotor asked as they stood, ready to put an end to today's discussions and go get some food. They all paused and looked at him. _Looked_ , of course, not _stared_ , because it would be rude to stare when he had asked such an innocent question.

   Allura blinked and found her words. “You would like to eat with us?”

   Lotor nodded once. “If it is alright with you, yes. I have a lot to learn about both of your kinds, humans and Alteans. I have a lot to learn about each of you as individuals, as well. Thus far I have been rather partial to Lance, and though I cannot say that that will change, it seems proper that I get to know everyone on a deeper level than we are at now.”

   “ _Friendly terms_ , right?” Keith asked, remembering what Lotor had said to him when they had first arrived at the castle.

   “Precisely. I know you must think of me in a less than favorable manner, yes? I cannot blame you for that. Though I said we needed to be on friendly terms, I have yet to make an attempt to find common ground with most of you.” He looked over at Lance. The expression on his face and the emotion in his eyes put on display something Lance had been afraid to talk about: Lotor completely _adored_ him. It was obvious that he cared about Lance more than he could ever care about anyone else in the room. “Lance and I have been getting along quite well. You lot are important to him, and thus you have become important to me. Even if I find that I do not like some of you,” he regained control of his facial expressions and looked back to Allura as he spoke, “I am willing to make the attempt to get to know you.”

   “Why is Lance so important to you?” Keith asked before Allura could even open her mouth again. “If you wanna talk to us because we’re _his_ friends, I'm thinkin’ there's somethin’ going on with you two. Hell, it's written all over your face.”

   Lotor stared down at Keith, undaunted, and Keith stared back. “I do not need to explain myself to _you._ But if you must know, yes, I have become rather attached to him over these past few days. You are a fool if you cannot understand why.”

   “ _Excuse_ me?” Keith bit back.

   “Boys,” Allura interrupted. “Please. Lotor, you are welcome to eat and talk with us as long as we let this argument drop. That applies to you too, Keith. No fighting at the dinner table.” She remembered the great space goo food fight they had all had when the paladins were still trying to work together. It had ended well, yes, but it was an awful mess to clean up. She wouldn't let any of the humans under her charge start a new food fight, which Keith seemed pretty liable to do. “We came here to make peace, not war. You can hate each other _after_ we’ve finished all of our work here.”

   “Thank you,” Lotor replied. “I promise I will be on my best behavior.”

   Nobody was surprised when Lotor sat down at the table next to Lance. He scooted his chair over to sit as close to Lance as he could, their thighs touching and their arms bumping against each other every now and then. It should have been uncomfortable. Lance should have been embarrassed. He should have scooted away from Lotor and acted like he thought it was weird that Lotor wanted to be so close. But he wasn't. He was happy. He was aware of the others looking at them as dinner progressed. He could see the concern in some eyes, pride in others. _Pride._ They were _proud_ of him, somehow, for having found someone he liked and wanted to be next to.

   Even if any of them had said something about it, he doubted he would have taken it to heart. Sitting there, feeling the heat of Lotor’s body next to him, he was _happy._ He didn't know Lotor as well as he'd like to, at least not yet, but he would. It didn't matter how long they stayed or how early they left. He was going to make the most of every moment and he'd be damned if he was going to let it drop after they left. As he sat there, eating dinner with his friends and the person who apparently loved him, he felt better than he had in _ages._ The only thing that could have made it better was if they were back on Earth and his family was there too, but that wasn't going to happen. At least, not yet. Not for awhile. Maybe one day…

 

*

 

   Lotor joining them for meals became a regular occurrence over the course of the next week. The meetings continued on with little delay, though there were some hold ups. There were arguments. There were disagreements about how certain things could be accomplished. Somehow or another, though, each of them had settled in. Hunk had made sort-of friends with one of the chefs after he asked Lotor if he could go in and mess around in the kitchens. Pidge had also gotten on well with one of the tech experts that kept the technological parts of the castle up and running, even getting a few parts of things to play with and modify. Nobody would say that Keith had made friends with a guard or two that he could spar with in that training room, but he at least didn't hate them; they taught him some of the methods of the Galra, having seemingly accepting him as one of their own due to his heritage. Shiro occasionally joined Keith in the training room, other times he hung out with Allura and Coran as they continued their journey through the library. The had missed a lot more in ten thousand years than just the occupation of this planet, so they ended up with a lot more reading than they had initially intended.

   It wasn't hard to guess what Lance had been up to. He and Lotor talked long into the night, sitting outside in a garden or relaxing in one of the sitting rooms, and there had already been several instances in which Lance had fallen asleep next to Lotor as he told stories of Earth. And Lotor, being the respectable gentleman he was, would pick Lance up in his arms and carry him back to his room to tuck him into bed. He would press a gentle goodnight kiss to Lance’s forehead after he had pulled the blankets up around the paladin, whisper to him that he loved him, and then he would leave and Lance’s room would be the first place he went in the morning. Lance would wake to the mattress dipping under Lotor’s weight, would give him a sleepy smile and mutter a soft, “Good morning.” Lotor would return the smile and the words. Every time.

   And so when Lance woke up on his own on the eighth day since Lotor started eating meals with the Voltron crew, he was a bit concerned. He got out of bed and dressed, then walked down to the dining room where they gathered every morning. The room was empty except for one figure sitting at the head of the table.

   “I apologize for not coming to get you this morning,” Lotor said as Lance walked in. “But I wanted to surprise you. I gathered your friends earlier and we had a long talk, see. We have reached an agreement that taking a day or two’s break from our meetings would be beneficial for you and the other paladins. It was explained to me that humans do not reach their full potential if they do not have periods of rest.” He motioned to the seat to his right. There was a fairly large meal arranged in front of his seat and the one he meant for Lance to take. “Which means, if you would like, we can spend all day together.”

   Lance sat in his designated chair and nodded. “That sounds great. I’m just surprised you got Allura to agree to that.”

   Lotor shrugged. “I have my ways. I am very charming, you know.”

   “Oh, yeah, I know. I know.”

   Before Lance could start eating, Lotor leaned over to kiss him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [[LOUD SHRIEKING IN THE DISTANCE]]  
> The next chapter is when things get all [[eyes emoji]] so heyo that'll be here soon have fun waiting all weekend xoxo


	8. Fuzzy Feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance realizes his feelings may be more than he thought they were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THERE'S THE STUFF IN THIS CHAPTER THERE'S ALIEN SEX also holy fuck this chapter is long its like 5k words I hope y'all got some TIME lmao

   As they climbed into a carriage to be taken to the city, Lance decided that  _ this _ was their first official date. Sure, there had been the hot springs and everything else they had done since they met, but this felt the most like a date so far. They sat on the same bench in the carriage, Lotor wrapping his arm around Lance as he leaned against him. The awful height difference made it impossible for Lance to lay his head on Lotor’s shoulder like he would have liked to, but it was also rather satisfying. He wasn’t afraid of how big Lotor was and it certainly didn’t make him uncomfortable; he had once wondered what it would like to be held in Lotor’s arms and the answer was that it felt like he was the safest he had ever been and would ever be again, it felt warm and relaxing, and it made him feel awfully small in the  _ best _ way.

   Their destination was an art gallery. Lance wasn’t an overly artsy person, but Lotor had shown him vast hallways in his castle filled with art and seemed so passionate about it that Lance couldn’t help but want to hear more. When Lotor suggested during breakfast that they go to his favorite gallery that day, just to get out of the castle and so Lance could see some of the city, Lance couldn’t refuse. As the Emperor, Lotor had to be wary of where he went and what he did. There had been no attempts on his life thus far, but it was only a matter of time before the first one came around. He wore a coat with an abnormally high collar and a floppy hat that made Lance laugh. It was going to be a good day, he was sure of it.

   Even though he had to wear that  _ awful _ disguise, Lotor was still thrilled about their outing. He talked animatedly as they made their way to the gallery, speaking in a way he never did around any of the others. He only ever talked that way around Lance, only ever seemed to truly enjoy himself around an insignificant human boy. At least, that was what Lance saw himself as, even now. He knew Lotor loved him, he  _ really _ did against all odds, but he couldn’t shake his natural human instinct of feeling insignificant. The instinct was temporarily silenced as Lotor walked around with his arm around Lance’s shoulders as they explored the gallery, as Lotor stared down anyone who gave them an odd look, and as Lotor led Lance to his favorite painting on display and kissed him, right then and there. 

   After a few hours, the twoーfollowed by an inconspicuous guard that Lance kept forgetting existedーheaded out to lunch, stopping at a lovely restaurant Lotor said served the  _ best  _ desserts. He was right. Lance found out that day that cake was a universal dessert and the cake there was absolutely to  _ die  _ for. His eyes practically rolled back in his head. There was a lot of good food back on Earth, but none of it held a candle to this one piece of space cake.  

   God, space shit was  _ so _ great. 

   Lance had never really had a proper  _ date _ like this. Sure, there were times he took a girl to the movies, but once he signed up at the Garrison there just weren't any opportunities. It wasn't like they could just walk up to their superiors and say, “Hey, yeah, we’re going out on a date tonight so if you could exempt us from bedtime that'd be great.” Dates at the Garrison consisted of sitting together at lunch and not making fun of each other if their scores on something weren't very good. Movies and lunch in the cafeteria and not laughing at each other totally didn't count as dates. There was no romance to those, not compared to this. 

   Lotor held his hand and pulled him close and leaned down to kiss him and told him all of these wonderful things and he was  _ happy _ beyond belief. They walked around town until the sun started to set, exploring and window shopping and simply enjoying each other’s company. 

   A large, probably expensive dinner was waiting for them back at the castle. The meal was arranged much in the way breakfast that morning had been. Lotor pulled out the chair Lance had sat in earlier, meaning for Lance to sit. Lance rolled his eyes good naturedly and said as he sat, “You really don't need to do things like this. I'm not gonna run off if you stop showering me with all this fancy stuff.” 

   Lotor didn't sit until Lance was comfortable. “You deserve everything I can give you and more, Lance. I'm not going to stop.”

   “Stubborn,” Lance teased. He looked down at the food in front of him for a moment, ready to thank Lotor anyways for everything. And he fell completely silent as a strange feeling exploded in his chest like a firework. It was warmer than anything he had felt in… had he ever felt like this? It was almost fuzzy, like it was shimmering around the edges. There he was, in a castle on a strange planet, being fawned over by a man that swore Lance was the most important and perfect person in the universe. And he was almost sad because he was just a little human boy and he couldn't return any of this. He wanted Lotor to have nice things too, wanted him to be happy, wanted to take care of him if he could. Wanted to be with him whenever he could. Wished he had more to offer because even though Lotor was already an Emperor and had so much and didn't need anything else, Lance was ready to give him everything he possibly could. Because the only name he could put to that warm, fuzzy feeling was  _ love.  _ He didn't know when or how he had fallen over the edge and fallen in love, but when he looked up from the food and made eye contact with Lotor again, he knew. He knew it was true. 

   Lotor was right. Humans were strange creatures, thinking that their love was true and then getting tired of the person they were with after a few years. Lance had no trace of Galra blood in him, not the way Keith did, and staying on a planet where he was always surrounded by Galra was an enormous culture shock. He didn't know half as much about the Galra species as he should have, but he knew more about Lotor than he would have thought possible after knowing someone just barely longer than a week. He knew that Lotor was right. The universe made them for each other. They were meant to be together. So when Lotor said, “I love you,” before they started eating, Lance was able to reply,

   “I love you, too.”

   Lotor’s jaw dropped when Lance said his first  _ I love you _ . And he had been beyond thrilled. And then he asked if, after dinner, Lance would like to take a small walk around the castle and then, perhaps, come stay the night with him in Lotor’s room. He was quick to assure that he had no intention of trying to get Lance to do anything he didn't want to do, saying that he only meant that he thought it might be nice to spend the night together. Lotor had always carried Lance back to his bed when he fell asleep and it was never fun; he wanted to be able to spend the whole night sleeping next to Lance if Lance would allow it. 

   That was how Lance ended up in Lotor’s room, sitting on the edge of his bed as he flitted around the room and grabbing collectibles of his to show to Lance. After a while, Lance smiled kindly and said, “Hey. You're nervous, aren't you?”

   Lotor stopped dead in his tracks, looking over at where Lance sat from where he stood by one of his floor-to-ceiling shelving units. He sighed and looked down at his shoes. “Yes, a bit,” he admitted. “You know that you are the love of my life, yes? I… must admit, I am very nervous about doing something wrong here. You are far more important to me than anyone else I have spent a night with, and I very much want for you to come back.”

   “I'm nervous too, y’know,” Lance replied. “Nobody’s ever treated me the way you do. I don't know how to react most of the time. But I meant what I said at dinner. I have fallen in love with you.”

   Lotor set down the bauble he had grabbed and walked back over to the bed, standing in front of Lance and looking down at him. He smiled back at Lance. “I adore you.”

   “I know. I love you, too.”

   “I must apologize for not asking before doing so at breakfast this morning, and so I will ask properly this time. May I kiss you?”

   Lance rolled his eyes and smiled. “You don't have to ask. Of course you can.”

   Lotor leaned down for the kiss. The fuzzy feeling in Lance’s chest only grew. He reached up and grabbed the loose fabric around the shoulders of Lotor’s shirt, hauling him down and closer before he even realized he was doing it. The action set off a bizarre chain of events. At the sudden pull, Lotor lost his balance and pulled away from the kiss to try to right himself, which he failed to do and ended up falling forwards anyways. His weight knocked Lance onto his back, and Lance’s grip on Lotor’s shirt didn't loosen, taking him all the way down with him. Their foreheads bumped together in a slightly painful way.

   They both made small sounds of pain, being an  _ ow _ and a sharp intake of breath. And then Lance started laughing and apologizing as he went. Lotor’s own laughter followed, his forehead now gently resting on Lance’s and his forearms braced on either side of Lance’s head to hold his weight and not come crashing down on top of the paladin. 

   “How about we get more comfortable and try that again?” Lotor suggested as soon as their laughter subsided. 

   “Yeah,” Lance agreed. “That's probably a good idea.”

   The next moments passed in a wonderful type of blur. Lance wasn't entirely sure how he ended up underneath Lotor again and with this evening starting to look a lot like a continuation of that night in the hot springs, but he certainly wasn't complaining. His shirt was somewhere across the room, his head was tilted back as Lotor kissed and bit as his neck, and that heat was rushing back  _ again _ . He couldn't hide a damn thing this time. Lotor had worked his way in between Lance’s legs and Lance just  _ knew  _ that Lotor could feel every stuttering breath and every twitch and  _ everything.  _

   This was fucking embarrassing. But, God, he _loved_ it. The attention, the soft mutters of praise Lotor occasionally took a break from kissing to whisper, the weight of Lotor’s body on top of him, the way Lotor’s hand explored Lance’s bare torso. _Fuck._

   “Now’s as good a time as ever,” Lance managed to gather his wits enough to say. “I've got a confession.”

   “Hm?” Lotor had latched on to a specific patch of skin, now dead set on leaving the worst bruise he possibly could. He did not stop what he was doing to say anything. It was like Lance said at dinner: Lotor was stubborn. 

   “Well, I mean, y-you remember everything that happened at the hot springs.”

   “Mm.”

   “A-After I went back to my room, I, um, kinda kept thinking about you, y’know?” Lance had already let his hands get lost in Lotor’s long hair. He gasped and his grip tightened as Lotor suddenly bit a little harder. “And, I’m really not proud of this, but I just… I already to-told you that humans have s-shit self-control, right?”

   Lotor halted his assault, pulling back to check out his handiwork. “You did.” His voice had deepened, cool and even despite their position. It was the same voice he had used when he was telling Lance to answer him in the hot springs, the demanding tone he had used while trying to find out if Lance was attracted to him. The type of voice that sent a rush of pleasure through Lance’s body. The type of voice that made him want to do absolutely  _ anything  _ Lotor asked him to. When Lance struggled to find his words again, he prompted, “What is it, Lance? What did you do?”

   Lance had been wrong. He had thought that he would die in the hot springs when he saw Lotor’s naked body and then when Pidge had walked in on them making out. He was going to die  _ here.  _ God, why had he thought it would ever be a good idea to confess what he had done? “I, um, I… I k-kept thinking, y’know, and I got kind of riled up.”

   “And?”

   “And…”

   “Don't be shy, love. Just tell me what you did.”

   Lance’s face had been taken over by an intense blush. The only way he was ever going to get it said was if he just  _ said it _ . He shut his eyes tight so he didn't have to look at Lotor as he said, “I fucking jerked off, okay? I couldn't get it out of my head and I justー”

   Lotor cut him off with a deep kiss, intense from the moment it started to the moment it ended. “Good boy,” he whispered right next to Lance’s ear, sending a shiver down his spine and arousal through the rest of him. “I appreciate your honesty.”

   “Y-You aren't upset or anything?”

   “Of course not,” he said. His roving hand started to make its way downwards, eventually tugging at Lance’s pajama pants. Lance’s breath caught in his throat. “I'm actually quite happy to hear that you see me in such a way.”

   “You already knew I'm attracted to you.”

   “Yes, but there is a vast difference between being attracted to someone and truly  _ desiring  _ them.”

   “A-Are, uh, are we really gonna do this?”

   Lotor froze. He pulled back and looked Lance in the eye now that he had opened them again. “Do you not want to?” he asked, the seduction replaced with obvious concern in his voice. “I will stop if you want me to. I just thought…” He trailed off, suddenly looking so much more worried than he had any reason to. 

   Lance shook his head. “Don't freak out. Of course I  _ want  _ to. I just, y’know, didn't expect any of this. And it's been awhile since I last slept with someone, so. You've gotta be patient with me, okay?”

   The worry on Lotor’s face softened into understanding. He nodded and pressed a kiss to Lance’s forehead. “Of course. Just tell me what you want as we go.”

   “I can do that.”

   “Good.” He tugged at Lance’s pants again. “Shall we continue?”

   “Yeah, fuck. Please.”

   Lotor’s voice dropped again. “Are you going to beg for me?”

   “Do you want me to?”

   “Absolutely.”

   “Then I guess I could,” he said, trying to sound more confident than he actually was.

   His entire body jerked when Lotor called his bluff and sunk his fingernails into Lance’s thigh through the fabric. “You  _ will. _ ”

_    Fuck.  _

 

*

 

   There wasn't much explaining that had to be done. Despite the obvious differences between their species,  _ you can put your dick up my butt and it'll be great _ was a shared experience. Not that anything would be going inside Lotor that night, as he  _ insisted  _ that Lance lay back and not worry a single bit about him. There was also the fact that he said he was undoubtedly, one hundred percent a top. He didn't like having anyone hovering above him, but  _ damn _ he liked watching someone writhe underneath him. Lance found that to be rather agreeable.

   He wasn't sure if it was a Lotor thing or a Galra thing, but after he had gotten Lance out of his clothes he had taken his sweet fucking time kissing and marking and eventually undressing the impatient human before he set about doing prep work. He had said that the frames of most Galra bodies were already a good size larger than humans and that, yes, everything  _ was  _ proportional. 

   Lance watched with a hot, heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach as Lotor opened the drawer of his nightstandーsomething their species had in common, apparentlyーand retrieved the supplies he'd need. Even aliens were concerned about safe and comfortable sex.

   As he remembered just how  _ big _ Lotor had seemed that night at the hot springs, Lance was starting to get seriously concerned. This was real. This was  _ happening.  _ He absolutely wanted it, of course he did, but he couldn't help but think that they just were not physically compatible. For fuck’s sake, Lotor had to be a solid seven or eight inches even when he wasn't turned on and not hard. There was no way, right? If that  _ thing _ he called a penis got to be much more, they'd have to replan their entire night. There was just no way.

   Somehow, Lotor seemed aware of his concerns. Lance was small in comparisonーin all ways, truth be toldーand nervous and that meant this was going to take  _ time.  _ Lance didn't see just how much lube Lotor applied to his fingers, but the cold of it made him jump. Lotor tried to soothe Lance with his other hand, rubbing calming circles around where Lance’s hip bones jutted out, skin pulled tight over them. Tall and thin and a bit lanky, Lotor understood then why Lance had worried that he saw him as a child. If only Lance knew that this was  _ exactly _ how Lotor liked his partners, soulmate or otherwise. The constant and gentle motion reminded Lance that he was going to be okay no matter what happened next. Lotor loved him and he loved Lotor and he  _ knew _ that Lotor would never do anything to hurt him on purpose. Unless they talked about it and agreed on some kinky shit beforehand, anyways. That was a totally different ballgame. 

   Lance sucked in a sudden breath as Lotor’s index finger pushed in, easily enough considering Lance’s relaxed state and the lube, but still managing to send a shock through his body. Lotor whispered a gentle  _ hush _ , starting to ramble sweet and relaxing things as he waited for Lance to adjust. He told him how beautiful he was, how glad he was that their feelings were mutual, how much he hoped that they would always be able to be together. And he promised that Lance had nothing to worry about, asking him to please try to stay calm and to just let himself be taken care of. A first time with someone was always supposed to be special. He'd do everything he could to make sure Lance only had fond memories of this night. 

   Then there was another finger and another breath and another onslaught of praise. It wasn't hard to pick up on the way Lance melted when Lotor said that he was so good and beautiful and was doing  _ so  _ well. So he kept on praising him, listening to the little whimpers Lance made as Lotor stretched him out slowly and thoroughly.

   As Lotor worked him with his fingers, adding a third when he thought he was ready, he became enthralled with the cute little noises Lance kept making. Tiny gasps and whimpers came flowing from him, though he was clearly trying to keep himself together. His already fragile human self-control shattered when Lotor pressed against his prostate. He fucking  _ moaned  _ and Lotor stopped what he was doing  _ again _ and looked at Lance like something was wrong. 

   “Are you alright?” he asked. 

   “Why wouldn't I be?” Lance managed to ask. His breath came heavier than it had a few moments ago. 

   “That was a good sound, then?”

   “The fuck else would it be? You'd know if it wasn't. Iー”

   Lotor repeated the motion, effectively dragging another moan from Lance’s throat and shutting him up at the same time. “Fascinating,” he said mostly to himself. “My people have mastered the art of conversation during sexual encounters. We do not, however, make noises like  _ that. _ ”

   Lance’s perpetual blush just got worse. Lotor’s continued exploration made it hard to find his voice to ask, “Is it weird?”

   “Heavens, no,” Lotor quickly said. “Please, do not try to silence yourself. I am unused to sounds like those, but I find I rather like them.”

   That was when the torture started. Lance was the only one naked, the only one already starting to sweat. It was  _ so _ unfair. It felt like it went on forever, Lotor alternating between slowly dragging his fingers along Lance’s insides over that spot and brutally shoving them against it. Meanwhile, Lotor’s other hand had taken to roaming and Lance just  _ knew _ that Lotor was avoiding his erection on purpose, the big purple bastard. This was it. This was  _ actually  _ how he was going to die. 

   When Lance’s moans turned into cries and pleas, Lotor removed those fingers far too swiftly and got off the bed. Lance sat upーrather sad at the loss of contact, not that he was planning on admitting itーand his eyes followed him, not that he went very far. He just had to stand up to take off those ridiculous fancy Emperor pants. And then Lance wasn't the only naked one anymore and he paused to take it all in.

   He then broke the mood, shaking his head and saying, “Nope.”

   Lotor’s continuously impeccable eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What?”

   “You're kidding, right?” Lance leaned back again, chuckling despite having  _ everything  _ on display. “You're  _ huge _ ,” he said, waving a hand in the general direction of Lotor’s stupidly sized Galra dick. “That's never gonna fit.”

   It was… something. Definitely something. Lance was no angel or anything, so it wasn't like he had never seen the dark recesses of the Internet where shops sold so-called  _ dragon dildos _ as if anyone had any idea what a  _ dragon’s _ cock looked like. But if he had to compare Lotor to anything, it would be one of those. The tip was a bit sharper than that of a human, the curve a bit less, a few ridges along the shaft probably had function but mostly looked decorative at the moment. The increase in thickness was slight at first, but the closer to the base the thicker it got. God, Lance hadn't had a can of soda in a long time, but he was willing to make the comparison. Comparisons were all he could use to make sense out of that thing. 

   Lotor scoffed, interrupting Lance’s train of thought. “Well, not with  _ that  _ attitude,” he replied. He got Lance to really laugh at that, at his attempt at using the kind of Earth snark he had heard the paladins throwing at each other. “You told me to be patient with you. I have all the patience in the world.” He got back on the bed, smirking as he did. “We can make it work. I have this all under control.”

   “You sure about that?”

   “What kind of inexperienced dunce do you take me for? Do you really think I didn't do a spectacular job of preparing you?”

   “Well,  _ someone’s  _ confident in his abilities.”

   “Well, I've gotten excellent reviews.”

   “Then I hope you don't let me down.”

   “You know I will do my best to keep that from happening.”

   Lance managed to pull him in for a quick kiss. “I know. I'm just fuckin’ with you. I trust you.”

   And it was a damn good thing that there was that trust between them. Without it, things probably wouldn't have gone so well. The fact of the matter was that Lance had genuinely never felt anything like this, this complete and utter faith in another person. Even though his body reacted to the new intrusion of something much larger than a few fingers, even though he had a couple moments of panic where he could have sworn he was going to shatter like porcelain, he was capable of regaining control of himself and trusting Lotor to treat him kindly. 

   Lotor treated him so,  _ so _ kindly. Lance wouldn't lie and say that it didn't hurt. He wouldn't act like some tough guy incapable of feeling pain. All he could do was try to stay calm and to tell Lotor when it was too much. When it was too much, Lotor paused and kissed Lance and a string of reassurances and compliments followed, “It's alright, love. I've got you. It's just me. You're being so good for me, you know that? So well behaved. You're my good boy, aren't you?”

   Lance nodded to the best of his current ability. They'd been at this for awhile now; from where he was laying on the bed, he could make out the face of a clock across the room. Even though the strange numbers meant nothing to him he could tell it had been a good amount of time. “Yes,” he said with a shaky breath. “All yours.”

   “That’s right,” he said. “All mine.”

   It wasn't  _ fair.  _ Lance was struggling to find words and think and  _ breathe  _ as he clutched at the sheets beneath him, desperately trying to keep from making any more stupid loud noises than he already had. If he did, Lotor would stop again. He'd stop everything and his voice wouldn't shake in the slightest as he asked what that one meant. Lance wanted so badly to try to return a portion of his pained pleasure to Lotor, to make him feel good too, but he wasn't given the chance.

   With one last slide in, Lotor finally bottomed out. Not a moment too soon, either, because Lance was  _ positive  _ he couldn't have dealt with any more. He would have called the whole thing off if there had been much more. Sure, he had had sex before and he had taken it up the ass, but that was on  _ Earth _ . With some stupid five-inch white boy that he, for the life of him, couldn't remember why he thought had been a good idea. That guy had been an awful idea. He was a shitty person. 

   “Tell me when I can move,” Lotor said. “I won't until you tell me to. I don't want to hurt you any more than I already have.”

   Lance nodded in affirmation. He let go of the sheets and ran his hands through Lotor’s hair. “I haven't told you how pretty your hair is, have I?”

   Lotor murmured something to himself. “Thank you. You know, I don't think I have ever told you how much I love your eyes.”

   Lance smiled, sat up a little to grab a kiss. “You can move now. I'm alright. I'll tell you if I need you to stop.” He laid back again. “I'm all yours.”

   All it took was one little experimental roll of Lotor’s hips for Lance to tighten his hands back into fistsーhis hands still in Lotor’s hair, grabbing fistfuls of it and trying not to pull too hardーas he realized that the ridges he had seen really did have a purpose. He figured it must have been a weird Galra anatomy thing, the way they actually  _ moved _ inside of him. They weren't solid like he had thought they would be, but instead were rather flexible or something along that line with the way they flattened a little when Lotor pushed in and the way they expanded as he pulled back. He wasn't sure how he could describe it, but goddamn. It was  _ heaven.  _ At least, it would have been if Lotor hadn't been moving so damn  _ slow _ . He was being too cautious, way too gentle. Lance knew that it was because Lotor didn't want to hurt him, but that didn't make it any less frustrating. Even though the stretch was still a bit painful, he found that he wanted more. 

   “Please,” he whispered between breaths. 

   “Hm? What do you want, love?” Lotor asked, his forearms now on either side of Lance’s head in a manner not unlike that which he had done earlier when they fell back onto the bed. 

   This was different, though. So much different. It was no longer an innocent placement, but instead his arms were now more like a cage, keeping Lance in place as he stared down at him. If Lance hadn't already been harder than a fucking rock, this would've done it. “Don't make me say it,” he all but pleaded. “It's embarrassing.”

   Lotor kissed Lance’s forehead. “Please do not he nervous. You can tell me anything.”

   “I…” He swallowed hard, though his mouth was dry with lust and the constant flow of desperate panting. “More,” he managed to say. “You don't have to be so gentle, fuck. Please go faster. I can take it.”

   “Are you sure?”

   “ _ Yes. _ ” He made a pathetic noise of defeat. “You were right. You're skilled. I shouldn't’ve doubted you.”

   Lotor complied, moving a bit faster and wringing more moans from Lance’s throat. But it wasn't  _ enough.  _ The dragging of the tip of Lotor’s cock deep inside of him in a way he'd never felt, the bizarre texture and movement of the ridges over his sweet spot,  _ fuck.  _ But he wanted more.  _ Needed _ more. The pace had continued to pick up as Lance kept moaning and sighing and gasping and scraping his nails across Lotor’s scalp. And Lance thought that this was the  _ perfect _ pace, losing himself in the way the bed creaked beneath them and the way Lotor breathed in a way he could only equate to panting. 

   But it just wasn't  _ enough.  _ Lance’s sense of shame broke as the ridges dragged over his prostate in the most perfect way. “ _ More _ ,” he demanded. “St-Stop being so gentle,  _ please. _ ”

   “What do you want me to do?”

   “I  _ need  _ you to  _ fuck me _ .”

   Lotor made a surprised choking sound, like that was the last thing he had expected Lance to say. “I will completely abandon gentleness. Are you sure  you want that?”

   “I've never been so fucking sure of anything in my  _ life. _ ” He looked Lotor in the eye and didn't hesitate to say in a broken and desperate voice, “ _ Please _ .”

   Lotor went in for a hungry kiss, forcing their lips together without hesitation. Lance make a noise of surprise and his lips parted immediately and Lotor’s tongue was in his mouth andー

   Lance groaned as Lotor broke the kiss and smirked deviously and  _ slammed  _ into Lance, sending a jolt of pleasure through his veins like lightning. And then it wasn't just moans or groaning anymore, it was actual  _ screaming.  _ Lotor seemed to have gotten a grasp on the concept that the loud noises Lance made were completely good, not even pausing at the sudden yells. 

   Lotor pushed himself up from the position he was in, having had what he thought was a very good idea as to what could replace his arms there. Lance’s hands fell from his hair and reached back to the sheets as Lotor grabbed his thighs and lifted his legs and then, fuck, what just  _ happened _ ? Lance was still kind of on his back, most of his weight now resting on the area of his shoulder blades. He was vaguely aware of the fact that he was  _ literally  _ bent in half, his shins flat on the pillows where Lotor’s hands had been. He gasped in honest astonishment. Lotor had never even pulled out to maneuver him into this position, just moved with him like it was no big deal. 

   Holy  _ fuck.  _

   This was, easily, the best moment of his  _ life _ . He could hardly wrap his head around the fact that he was flexible enough for this, could hardly comprehend  _ anything  _ beyond how insanely  _ perfect _ the angle was. 

   He couldn't have shut himself up if he tried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pls show mercy I'm sorry [[praying emoji x500000000000000000000000000000]]


	9. Morning Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a period of peace. And then there's a confrontation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is pretty slow and chill until about the end tbh I didn't figure two HIGHKEY chapters in a row was gonna work well lmao

   Lance woke up with his head resting on Lotor’s chest, held tightly in his arms. He closed his eyes again and sighed happily. This was everything he had ever wanted, even if he was still a bit sore. Okay, that was a lie. He was kind of a lot sore, but it was nothing he couldn’t live with. Lotor hadn't been lying when he said he would abandon gentleness. And somehow, Lance didn't feel embarrassed when he remembered the stream of _fuck, please, aah! Fuck, Lotor, please_ he'd let loose. He felt like he should have been, and yet… he wasn't. Not one bit.

   “Are you awake?” Lotor whispered when Lance adjusted in his arms.

   “Yeah. I'm awake.” He yawned. “Good morning.”

   “Good morning, love. Did you sleep well?”

   “Of course. You wore me out.”

   “Oh, _I_ wore _you_ out? Very amusing.”

   “You did!”

   “Yes, because it was _all_ my fault. It had absolutely _nothing_ to do with you begging.”

   “You're the one who wanted me to do that.”

   Lotor sighed in defeat. “I suppose you have a point.” He kissed the top of Lance’s head. “I do not mean to spoil the mood, but we are supposed to return to negotiations today. If we keep this progress, I think we will be done within a few days.”

   Lance was silent for a long time. He eventually whispered, “I don't want to leave. I wanna stay with you.”

   “Darling, please do not think that the end of negotiations equals the end of our relationship. Even if you have to leave when we are done here, you and I are only getting started.”

   “I just…” Lance sat up, Lotor sitting up with him to keep his arms around him. “I'm scared,” he admitted. “I'm really scared.”

   “What are you afraid of?”

   Lance stared down at the blanket covering them, eyes trying to make sense of the nonsensical pattern of colors draped over their legs. “After I've left, it's just, look, I know you already told me about your Galra soulmate thing, but it's human nature to worry. I promise you there is never a moment when humans _aren't_ freaking out about something. I trust you, I really do, but, _God_. It's scary to be away from someone, especially when…”

   Lotor gently rubbed Lance’s arm, trying to comfort and soothe him the best he could without interrupting his words.

   “You're so much better than I am,” Lance said softly. “You're strong and you're so smart and kind and _beautiful_ and, I mean, anyone could fall in love with you. And I'm scared that maybe someone else will come along and impress you more than I ever did. I mean, I'm just _me._ There's nothing super special about me. Like, oh, wow, I speak two languages and a giant robot cat likes me. Great. What else is there?”

   Lotor’s gentleness faded a bit, pulling Lance closer and practically crushing him against his chest. “Why do you think that way?” he asked in a whisper. “Why have you convinced yourself that you aren't good enough?”

   Lance reached around and wrapped his arms around Lotor’s neck. “You don't know what Earth is like. What humans as a whole are like. I wish it was all sunshine and rainbows, but it's _not._ Humans aren't always loyal. Humans aren't always kind. Humans can be real _dicks_. And you have no idea how many people were dicks to me before everything happened. It was awful, y’know? I wasn't ever good enough for anyone I wasn't related to at home or anyone other than Hunk and Pidge at the Garrison. I just… got used to it. To not being good enough.”

   “There is no greater lie in the universe,” Lotor said, “than the one that says you are _not good enough._ You are far too good for me, my dear. I have done horrible things in my life, things that I am ashamed to remember. I can never make up for the things I've done. I fear that, if I told you everything, you would run away from me in terror. Do not bother telling me that I do not scare you, because if I told you the total truth, you would most certainly be frightened. I have done nothing to deserve you. I see you as an angel, you know. And if you are an angel, then what does that make me but a demon?”

   “Don't say stuff like that. You're a good guy.”

   “I am good to you. I cannot say the same about everyone else.” Lotor paused. “Forget the awful things the people of Earth told you. Hear me, here and now. You are, without a doubt, the most incredible person I have ever encountered.”

   Lance played with strands of Lotor’s hair, messy and tangled and in desperate need of a good brushing. “I could say the same to you.”

   “I love you, Lance.”

   “I love you, too.”

   “Trust me when I say that my heart and soul will always belong to you.”

   He barely nodded. “Yeah. I trust you.”

   They sat there for awhile, soaking in the soft morning sun before eventually getting up to shower and get ready for the day. They did it all together. Lance even had the honor of brushing through Lotor’s hair, loving every moment of it; maybe he was a jerk, always making fun of Keith’s mullet and then turning around and falling in love with Lotor’s long hair.

   When he was dressed and realized that Lance only had last night’s clothes with him, Lotor wrapped Lance in a long, absurdly fluffy robe and walked him back to his room. “Your friends will wake up soon,” Lotor said as they stood in front of Lance’s door. “I… should go and make sure everything is properly prepared for today’s meeting.”

   “Can I get a kiss before you go?”

   Lotor grinned. “It would be my pleasure.”

   They kissed, long and soft, before they had to part ways until they would reunite at breakfast. Lance went into his room, closing the door behind him. Lotor turned to leave, walking down the hall and around the cornerー

   He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw him. Keith was there, dressed in what Lotor could only assume was his regular outfit. His arms were crossed and his face looked angry. “Where'd you have him all night?” Keith asked. “I went looking for you two. Ended up near your room. Heard some things I don't think I was meant to hear. I don't think any of the others heard. I kept ‘em from going lookin’ for you. They'd react a lot differently than I have. What'd you do to him?”

   “I fail to see why that is any of your business,” Lotor replied. “But if you must know, we spent the night together. We had some lovely conversations between rounds.”

   Keith took a step towards him. “You disgust me. What's your game?”

   “Excuse me?”

   “You can't honestly expect me to believe that you really give a shit about him. You're using him for something.”

   “You do not know what you speak of,” Lotor replied. “I love him.”

   Keith raised his eyebrows. “Really? You think that's gonna work on me the way it works on him? You don't know anything _about_ him.”

   Lotor straightened his back a bit further, standing taller and staring down at the insolent human. “I advise that you stop this madness while you still can.”

   “You haven't known him for two weeks and you say that you're in love with him. That's not how it works.” He almost laughed. “You're planning something, aren't you? There's a fucked up scheme in that head of yours, isn't there?”

   “It is how it works for my people,” Lotor said. “We know who we are meant to be with the moment we see them. I can't imagine that _you_ have ever tried to learn more about your Galra heritage, if you fail to know such a simple fact. You have no idea how much I truly love him. You have no right to question me, nor do you have the right to launch inquiries into what happens behind closed doors.”

   Keith scoffed and rolled his eyes and said, “I have every _right._ If you hurt him, I will not hesitate to retaliate. I won't let you get away with it.”

   Lotor saw Keith’s eyes roll and stopped listening as he fought the urge to rip them out.

 

*

 

   At breakfast, neither Lotor nor Keith made any reference to their altercation in the hallway. The rest of the group passed the day in blissful ignorance, having no idea that Keith was so bold as to openly challenge the Emperor or that Lotor would only avoid hurting the angry red one because he was a friend to Lance.

   Lotor supposed he should have been ashamed of himself for even considering harming the boy. There were a lot of things he should have been ashamed of, actually, but he wasn't. Perhaps that was wrong of him. Perhaps Lance would love him more if he confessed his past sins and repented. That was a thing humans did, he had been told.

   Well, no matter. He could cross that bridge when he came to it, as humans apparently said. He had learned a lot since the paladins arrived, he really had. While most of his time had, of course, been spent with Lance, there were times when they were apart and Lotor went on to speak with the others. He had found that he rather liked Princess Allura, though in a more sisterly way than might be expected of him. He supposed she was pretty, in her own way, but he shuddered to imagine sharing a bed with her. Although, he wouldn't be surprised to find out that the black paladinー _Shiro_ , which Lance told him meant both _white_ and _castle_ in Japanese, whatever that was, but was not actually his full name; his full name of _Shirogane_ referred to _silver_ , he was told, though he cared little about the name and was mostly impressed by Lance's knowledgeーwas doing so. It was possible he was looking too closely at their relationship, but he could have sworn he saw overly affectionate glances shared between the two of them. They seemed to be _awfully_ close, at least by Galra standards.

   The thought that Allura and Shiro were strangely close made him wonder about Keith’s motives for being so aggressive about Lotor’s relationship with Lance. Being part Galra himself, one would think that Keith would be the most understanding about it. No, the one who was most excited about the pairing was the small green one, Pidge. She was a handful, surely, but she meant well without a doubt. Even Hunk had grown accustomed to the sight of them together, the one who admitted to wondering if Lotor may be some kind of “space vampire.” Lance, of course, had explained what a vampire was. It was an absurd concept.

   Lotor had laid claim to the blue paladin without hesitation. He knew what he wanted. He could feel it in his bones. If the Alteans and three out of four remaining paladinsーLance excluded for obvious reasonsーhad managed to have civil conversations with Lance and grown to accept both their relationship and Lotor himself, why did the last one stay so hostile?

   And then a thought crossed his mind. Was he _envious_? Had he wanted Lance and then Lotor came in and stole him away before he had a chance?

   If that was the case, he couldn't bring himself to feel sorry for the boy. He had known Lance for plenty of time and thus had been blessed with many chances to spill his guts and lay bare his heart. He hadn't. Lotor would not feel guilty if Keith had desired Lance and never said so and had him taken away. Really, why would he? It would be his own fault for waiting too long.

   He reminded himself that it was all speculation. Perhaps Keith just genuinely disliked Lotor and thought that he was a bad person, regardless of what the others had come to believe. There was always the chance that he despised Lotor for his heritage, for his history, for his power, his wealth, for any number of reasons. He would never know unless he asked, which was, frankly, a conversation he preferred to avoid if he could.

   Well, no matter. Lotor had done what he thought was right. He acted on his feelings from the beginning, never giving Lance time to doubt his worth or Lotor’s affections. Lance had responded favorably, accepting kindly and giving the Emperor more chances than he had thought was possible from a tiny human. He had succeeded. He had confessed his feelings clearly and cohesively, he had won Lance’s heart with his honesty and love. If the red one wanted to throw a fit and challenge Lotor, he was more than ready to respond in kind.

   But he thought to himself, what if the red one was right? What if, instead of being the kind person he tried to be, he was one of the dark stains on the fabric of the universe?

   Lance deserved better than that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [[LOUD OOOOOOOOO'ING IN THE DISTANCE]]


	10. Once Mighty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lotor opens up about the past.  
> Not everyone is thrilled with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's ya girl Spence back at it with another just-after-midnight Tuesday update because I suck <3  
> Also there's some long ass paragraphs in this one so gomenesai

   “He wants to take you away from me,” Lotor said as Lance laid on the long couch out in the garden with him. “The red oーKeith, I mean. He doesn't want us to be together.”

   “What makes you say that?” Lance asked. He rested his head on Lotor’s lap, looking up at the starry sky.

   Lotor began to play with the gentle curls of Lance’s hair. The boy had told him that his hair curled when it got to a certain length and, without having the time to go and have his hair cut, it was starting to do its thing. “Isn't it obvious?” he asked. “He has felt nothing but bitterness and rage towards me since the moment we met.”

   “Well, then that's his problem.” Lance closed his eyes and relaxed. It didn't get much better than a soft couch, fresh air, and a comfortable lap for a pillow. “He's always like this. It's so hard to get him to trust people. I think it's worse this time since, well, y’know. Enemy Emperor, or whatever. Just ignore him if he causes trouble, alright? Don't listen to him. I know you're a good guy.”

   Lotor sighed softly. “I'm not, though. I think part of what he says is true. I am not a good person.”

   “What do you mean? Of course you are.”

   “Don't you remember? Before I reached out to your group, I was following closely in my father’s footsteps. Too closely. I am the son of a murderer, the heir to a great military empire that crushes all that stands in its way. I was _never_ going to be a good person.”

   Lance opened his eyes again. “Stop that. You aren't your dad. You never have been.”

   “I killed him, you know.”

   “What?”

   “My father. I killed him.”

   Lance sat up and maneuvered around to a decently comfortable sitting position, not that he was overly concerned with comfort. “You… killed Zarkon?”

   “I did. I am rather surprised to hear that it is unknown.”

   “There were always rumors, but…”

   “Well, the rumors were true. I am not proud of it, but what is done is done. I visited his room one night, when the physicians attending him were asleep and the guards outside his room would only let me, his son, enter. I saw him laying there, I thought of all the things he had done, all of the awful things he had put me through as a child…” Lotor swallowed, tearing his eyes away from Lance and turning them to his own hands. His expression was not remorseful, nor was it proud. It was almost self-pitying. “I saw him there, and I thought him a monster. What better time to kill a monster than when it is most vulnerable? I think I had known even before I saw him what I was going to do that night. I brought a dagger with me to his room. I had never done that before.”

   Lotor’s hands had started to tremble. Lance reached over and held them in his.

   “And then,” Lotor continued, “I took out the dagger and I drove it into his chest. He didn't wake up. I thought that maybe the body’s shock at being stabbed would wake him just long enough for him to see me, but it was not so. It was pathetic. A once mighty Emperor, bleeding out because of the knife his son held.” He looked back at Lance with heart wrenching despair on his face. “Perhaps your friend is right. Perhaps I am not a good person, even if I try to be. Would a good person murder his own father as he lay defenseless?”

   Lance was silent as the words soaked in. Then he said, “We wanted to kill him in that fight. None of us really wanted to say it, but we wanted him dead.”

   “But you did not put the knife in his chest.”

   “But I would've liked to. I bet everyone in our group would agree.” He scooted closer to Lotor, leaning against him in his attempt at comfort. “Nobody could hold that against you. It doesn't matter if he was your father. He was a monster.”

   There was a long, long pause. Then Lotor said, “I lied to you.”

   “What do you mean?”

   “You asked me once why my servant did not speak. I told you I cut out his tongue because he did not know how to hold it. I lied.”

   Lance tried to keep himself from acting too shocked. It would just make Lotor even more upset. He swallowed his reaction and asked, “Then… why’d you do it?”

   “He knew,” Lotor said. “I have grown used to the idea of people knowing that I killed my father. That night, however, I thought that it was in my best interest to keep it covered up. I killed the guards in front of my father’s door so they could never tell that I was the last person to go into that room; I had decided to make it look like an assassination, if I could. I was genuinely afraid of what would happen if it was known that it was all my doing. And that servant of mine was going about his nightly tasks when he came upon them, bloody and lifeless on the floor. He came rushing into the room and saw me there, standing over my father and still gripping the knife. I couldn't risk him telling anyone anything, you understand.” He shivered at the memory. “I cut out his tongue in that very room, with the same blade I had buried in my father’s heart. I told him that it was for the best, that I cared about him too much to kill him but I simply couldn't have him running off and blowing the whistle on my actions. Do you know what the worst part of all of that is? He has always trusted me. He has always been by my side. In fact, he was about my only _friend_ as I grew up. He trusted me so much that he didn't fight at all. He let me do it, Lance. He never would have told. I see that now, looking back at his willingness to comply with my sick thoughts. I could have left him in one piece and he would have remained loyal to me until the day he dies.” He let out a long, shaky breath. “I took away his ability to speak when he never would have used it against me. I will never forgive myself for that.”

   “It looks to me like he still considers you two to be friends,” Lance said. It took more effort than he would have liked to find the right words in that moment. He had never expected Lotor to be innocent and, even though it may have seemed that way, he had never convinced himself that Lotor was a saint. How could he have been? It wasn't possible. “He's always around. Always tryin’ to take care of you. I really don't think he's… _that_ upset, I guess.”

   Lotor stood up and waved his arms in frustration, starting to pace back and forth. Lance had seen a lot of things that Lotor wouldn't show to anyone else, but this was a first. “Please stop trying to tell me that everything is alright. This isn't about if he has forgiven me or not, Lance. This is about the fact that I _did it_ in the first place.” He ran his hands through his hair. “I love you with all of my heart. You know that. I thought that I didn't care what the angry one said. I know what my feelings for you are. If your friends asked it of me, I would give up this entire empire in exchange for their continuing to allow me to see you. Without hesitation. If it ever came to choosing between you and the empire, I would watch the empire burn.” He stopped pacing then, walking over to Lance and going down onto his knees in front of him. “You are the single greatest person in this universe, as far as I am concerned. And you deserve to be with someone better than I am. My father was a monster. He raised me to be one, too. I had thought that I was better than him, but it turns out that I am not so different from him after all.”

   The look in Lotor’s eyes said that he truly believed everything he said. “Listen, I… I know you’ve done some weird shit in your life, okay? I can’t tell you that it’s all okay or that you’ve never done anything wrong.” He paused to find his next few words. “I’m willing to forget the bad things you’ve done as long as you promise me that you’ll try to do better from now on.”

   “You would forget it? Truly?”

   “Well, I shouldn't say I'll _forget._ That's not the kind of thing that you forget, y’know, so I guess maybe I should say instead that I'm willing to forgive. I'll forgive you and I won't think about it so hard, okay? Just promise that you'll try.”

   The self-pity and loathing in Lotor’s eyes disappeared as they lit up and a relieved smile spread across his face. He nodded happily, saying, “Yes, yes, of course. I will try to make you proud.”

   Lance held his arms out in an invitation. Lotor accepted, going in for the hug. “I know you can do it,” Lance assured. “And I'll be here, I promise. I'll help you out whenever I can.”

   “I love you _so much_.”

   “I love you too.”

 

*

 

   It was only fair that Lotor share his confession with the others. Just the one about killing Zarkon, of course; nobody else was concerned about the guy who never talked, since they didn't even seem to know he was unable to. Lotor stood there at the head of the table, retelling the story he had told to Lance. Lance fully expected for him to just tell it like it happened, with the guards and then his father but perhaps omitting the detail about his servant, but he hadn't thought that Lotor would go so far as to tell them that he could understand why some of them thought he might have been a monster.

   He had looked straight at Keith when he said that. Lance made a mental note to really try to find some common ground between those two; maybe this would bring all of them closer together, maybe it wouldn't, but Lotor was willing to admit his faults and sins. He was willing to make eye contact with his foremost opponent and say that he fully understood his position. That, at least, was worthy of respect.

   Allura rose from her seat and stared Lotor in the eye. “You are saying that you killed your father with your own hands as he lie unconscious?”

   “Yes,” Lotor answered. “That is precisely what I am saying. Lance and I had a conversation last night. He helped me to decide it was for the best that I tell you all the truth about his death.”

   Unexpectedly, Allura started to laugh. “You thought that I would be _upset_ to find out that it was you who ended his life? I would have done it myself, if I could have gotten close enough.”

   “Told you!” Lance interjected. “I told you everyone would agree.”

   “Hush,” Allura said, reigning in her amusement. “I am not condoning murder. I simply can't believe that Lotor thought that I would be angry to hear that he had killed the man who brought about the downfall of my people.”

   Lotor chuckled and grinned. “Yes, I suppose it was a rather unfounded fear. And you do not need to worry about my habit of _murder._ I have, in fact, vowed to do better. I will not be a monster for the rest of my life.”

   “Murder is a _habit_?” Pidge asked. “Damn. I thought nail biting was a problem.”

   “Your people bite your nails? Is that really a human thing?”

   “Well, yeah. Lots of people do it.”

   “But… _why_?”

   “Dunno. Stress relief, I guess? Do it when you're bored or somethin’?” Pidge shrugged. “Do you guys seriously never do that?”

   “Absolutely not,” Lotor replied. “The very thought is repulsive.”

   Pidge stuck her tongue out at him. Shiro scolded her for it, she shrugged again and said that Lance was like a brother to her and if he was gonna be with Lotor all the time then Lotor was basically a step-brother so she was _absolutely_ going to tease him. Hunk stifled a laugh, Allura sighed in a maternal _these-children-are-killing-me-but-I-love-them_ kind of way, and Lance was pretty sure his face displayed every shade of red in existence.

   Despite his embarrassment from the bullshit Pidge had just announced, Lance was reminded of the first dinner all eight of them had eaten together. He remembered the way he had thought that the only thing that could make it better was if his family was there, but he realized now that those thoughts had been wrong. Of _course_ he desperately missed his family from Earth, his parents and his aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents and siblings and nephews and nieces and _everyone._ But they weren't his only family, were they? He already had a family, right there with him. He had been temporarily separated from his Earth family, yes, but he had also found a new space family.

   He had never been without a family. He was an idiot for thinking he hadn't had one for any amount of time.

   The happy, teasing mood that had surfaced carried on through the day’s talks. Keith stayed just a bit grouchyーjust a bitーbut managed to relax more than Lance had thought might have been possible. He was more respectful now that Lotor had made his confession, more accepting now that everyone else was also smiling and laughing with Lotor like he was one of them. On some level, all of them in the room knew that it was kinda fucked up to be bonding over a man committing patricide, but hey, at least it wasn't genocide. Could've been worse.

   Then things got complicated.

   It started when Lotor said, “According to the agenda we put together when we began meeting, we are nearly done with negotiations. I expect it will take no more than three more days, perhaps, before you can all go and put all of our new policies into place.”

   “That's great. I mean, it's been nice staying here,” Shiro said, “but I think we’re all ready to get out there and put our plans into action.”

   “You are all welcome to visit any time,” Lotor said with a polite smile. “It will be awfully quiet around here when you have left. Although, there is one more topic I would like to discuss before you leave. I did not mention it at the beginning because it had not yet occurred to me, you understand.”

   “What would that be?” Allura asked.

   Lotor took a deep breath before he spoke. “I would like to discuss the possibility of, when our work here is done and you leave, Lance staying here and living with me.”

   Lance almost choked on his own spit. He knew he had told Lotor that he wanted to stay, but that was said in a moment of insecurity. A moment he thought Lotor would have forgotten as soon as Lance said that he trusted him. “You want me to stay here? Really?”

   “Yes,” Lotor said. “I do. Very much so, actually. As I said, we would have to discuss this matter before we made any plans. I lived a long time before I met you, Lance. It was miserable. If I have any say in it, I will not live without you again.”

   “Well, shit,” Pidge groaned. “Keith had _just_ started to not hate you, too.”

   Keith stood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd apologize but??? not too sorry lmao love y'all


	11. Rarely Heard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a confrontation, a battle of wills between an Emperor and a certain paladin.  
> The boy they fight over is getting pretty tired of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I would've had this posted earlier but it was national donut day and we went to Dunkin Donuts to get some drinks and donuts soooo,,,

   Before Keith could start in on anything, Lotor said, “I know you do not particularly trust me, Keith. I know you must be concerned about my proposition. I ask only that you give me the time to explain my position and to convince you that I have only the best of intentions.”

   “I wasn’t going to talk to  _ you _ ,” Keith said. “I haven't wanted anything to do with you from the start. I was going to talk to Lance.”

   “Oh.” Lotor nodded. “Well, then. By all means.”

   Keith looked over at Lance. The first word out of his mouth was a simple, “Don’t.”

   “Don’t what?” he replied.

   “You know damn well  _ what _ . Look, I’m not trying to interfere in your relationship. I’m really not. IーI’m happy for you, I think. You’ve always been hopelessly flirting with people and it doesn’t work out in your favor, and it’s good to see things work for once. But that history of things  _ not _ working is exactly what I’m worried about. You love being loved, Lance. I don’t want you to make a mistake just because someone slept with you.”

   Pidge might have screeched. “They slept together?” she asked. 

   Lance groaned and leaned forward, resting his head on the table so he didn’t have to look at anyone. “It’s none of your business,” he muttered. He hadn't told anyone for a reason. How did Keith even know? Oh, fuck. Had he heard something?

   “Like hell it isn’t!” She grinned like a madman. “Of course it’s my business if you guys are goin’ all the way. I gotta make you a cake or somethin’, like the ones on the Internet back home that say  _ congrats on the sex _ .”

   Shiro sighed. “ _ Pidge _ .”

   “That’d be funny, though,” Hunk chimed in. “We could make the cake purple.”

   “Thank you, Hunk. You’re on the cake team with me.” 

   “Shut  _ up _ ,” Keith nearly yelled. “If you guys aren’t going to take this conversation seriously, go eat dinner. We’ll be out to join you in a bit. I’m not gonna let you assholes keep interrupting me because you think it’s fun, like this is all some big joke and not something serious.”

   Pidge rolled her eyes. “Lighten up. It’s just a bit of fun. Aren't you proud of him for getting laid? I thought that was a dude thing.” Keith gave her an undeniable look. She sighed and stood up, saying, “Fine, be that way. I’ll get out of your hair, since you’re so freaked out.” 

   Hunk also stood, saying that he'd better leave too since he was also making jokes, then Coran. “Come,” the latter said, taking on a fatherly attitude for the time being like he wanted to keep things from exploding. “Let’s go eat a nice dinner and let them talk this out. We might make things worse by staying here.”

   Keith thanked him as they walked out of the room. After the door shut, Shiro said, “Alright. Calmly, now. Why are you so worked up, Keith?”

   He sat back down. “You remember everything that’s happened, all the times Lance has gotten messed with. I just don’t want him hurt again.”

   “I can take care of myself,” Lance said as he sat up. “This isn’t like the time with Rolo and Nyma, it’s not like that time with the mermaid folks. And… I was the one who first brought it up. We were talking, and I said that I did kinda want to stay here, alright?”

   “Lance, don't be stupid. You’re one of us. You belong with Voltron.” His tone had softened considerably, full of an affection Lance had rarely heard and mostly heard only being used towards Shiro. “I don’t want you to get hurt again. I don't want to see you get taken advantage of. We all care about you, you know. You’re our friend and nobody could replace you and you just  _ belong _ with us. You keep the group together, and all of us will agree that you’re the heart of Voltron, whether you believe it or not. And remember that you have a family back home on Earth, people who are waiting and praying to see you again. Do you really wanna put all that to the side to stay here?”

   “You say that like I’d never see you again. Like I wouldn’t visit you guys, like you wouldn’t be allowed to visit me here, like we’d never interact ever again. I’d visit Earth, too. That’d be the first thing I did. I’d go home, I’d tell them all what was going on and that I was okay, I’d make sure they knew that everything was alright. It never even crossed my mind to abandon my family. I’m not that kind of person.” Lance tilted his head back, staring up at the ceiling. “It’s not like I ever made a decision, either. I mentioned it  _ one time _ and then I stopped thinking about it because I had other things going through my mind. I love it here, Keith. And I love Earth. If I could have ‘em both, I would do that. But I can’t.”

   “He just admitted to being a murderer, Lance. You can't  _ possibly _ trust him after that.”

   “Why not? He told us, didn't he? He told the truth. He made me a promise, Keith. He's not the person he used to be.”

   “How do you know that?” Keith asked. “We didn't know him until just a little while ago. You don't know what he  _ used to be _ . I'm telling you that he's bad news.”

   “I beg your pardon,” Lotor said, “but I could say the same to you. You have brought nothing but ill will into my castle, into my  _ home.  _ If you do not trust me, why should I trust you?”

   Keith scoffed. “You're fucking kidding me, right? I'm not the one who killed my father.”

   “You would have killed him if you were given the chance. He was not well liked, least of all by your group.”

   “Hell yeah I would've liked to kill him, but he wasn't  _ my father.  _ He was yours.”

   “He may have been my father, but he was no family to me. I was only ever a backup plan, the one who was meant to carry on in his place should something happen to him. I decided on a different course, one that you seem to have been too blind to notice.”

   “I've noticed you acting all sweet and innocent around Lance,” Keith said. “I've also noticed you barely giving half a shit about the rest of us. Oh, you gave Allura and Coran some history lessons. You talked to Pidge about some tech stuff you have around here. You and Hunk compared our cultures’ food and traditions. You showed Shiro the hangar, let him look at all your pretty spaceships while telling him what they did. And you tried, you  _ tried _ , to get me to divulge some of our strategies.”

   “I meant only the war habits of  _ Earth _ , which you would know if you had been listening to me. I do not wish to fight you, nor do I wish to fight any of your friends. You always twist my words, making me out to be some sort of manipulative bastard.”

   “What, like you  _ aren't  _ one? I don't know what your fucked up culture is like, but where I'm from, it's shitty as hell to put someone on the spot like you did to Lance by just suddenly dropping that… suggestion.”

   “My people are not shy,” Lotor said defensively. “I meant no harm and certainly no disrespect. As it is a decision that would affect all of us, I thought it best that we all talk about it together. It seems that you are unwilling to talk about anything outside of your small zone of comfort.”

   Keith reached for his knife.

   Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose. The seating arrangement had changed around a lot since the first meeting, allowing him to reach over and grab Keith’s wrist, all the while praying that nobody else noticed that Keith had murder on the mind. “Guys, stop arguing. This isn't about your rivalry, okay? Look at Lance. You're stressing him out.”

   The boys fell silent at the look of distress on Lance’s face. Allura stood and walked over to Lance, gently putting her hands on his shoulders to calm him. “All of us want the best for you,” she said sweetly and kindly. “Nobody is going to get mad at you for whatever you decide. It’s your choice.” She looked over at Lotor. “But if he stays here and I find out that you mistreat him even once, I will watch this place burn with you still in it. Do you understand me?”

   Lotor nodded politely. “You leave no room for me to misunderstand. I assure you, I have only ever wanted him to be happy. If he decides that he will be happier back on Earth than here with me, I will not stand in his way. Even if it hurts me. His happiness is far more important than my own.”

   “Good,” she replied. “Keith, stand down. We will discuss this further at another time. I won't have you two tearing each other apart here.”

   Keith agreed reluctantly, then left the room without another word. Shiro got up and walked after him, mumbling to himself about how this kid was too much to handle sometimes. 

   Lotor looked to Lance. “Darling?”

   “Yeah?”

   “Please do not feel pressured to make a choice tonight. Relax. Eat dinner with your friends. I will retire to my room for the night.” When Lance looked at him with worry and near panic on his face, Lotor continued, “Just because I do not want to interfere with your decision making process. I am not saying that Keith is right in that what I did was wrong, but I do know that I sprung this on you very suddenly, and in front of your friends no less. I apologize for that. I will let you eat your dinner in peace.”

   “Can I come see you after dinner?”

   “Of course. I would never say no to you.”

   Allura and Lance walked to the dining room together in silence.

 

*

 

   Lotor was ready and waiting for Lance, the door unlocked until Lance walked in and locked it behind him. “Hey,” he said, walking over to where Lotor sat on the edge of his bed.

   “Hello, love,” Lotor said, pulling Lance into his lap and holding him there. “Did you have a nice dinner?”

   “Yeah, of course. The food here is really good. And before you ask, no, nobody bothered me about, well, y’know.” He relaxed in Lotor’s arms. “I missed you, though. Got used to you sitting next to me.”

   Lotor nodded in agreement. “I know. I missed you too. I’ve come to hate eating alone, but I do not think I would have been very welcome there tonight. I really should have talked to you about our future in private before I offered that suggestion today. I am truly very sorry. You must understand I am not overly used to holding my tongue.”

   “It’s alright. I understand.”

   “It isn’t alright though, is it? I really…”

   “Lotor. Stop it.” Lance kissed Lotor’s cheek, saying, “I get it, I really do. I love you just the way you are, loose tongue and all.” 

   Lotor lifted him like he weighed nothing and set him back down on the bed, then laying next to him and holding him close against his chest. “They will try to convince you to leave with them. I, naturally, will try to convince you to stay here with me. I am sorry for putting you in the middle of this.”

   “Stop apologizing, holy shit. You’re fine, really. I promise. I’ll make a decision soon enough.” He sighed. “It’ll all work out. They’re all just worried about me, y’know?”

   “I was wondering about something you said, actually. Who are Rolo and Nyma? You mentioned them earlier, but I do not recall being told about them.”

   “ _ Ugh _ . Don’t get me started on those fucks. Nyma tied me to a fuckin’ tree and stole Blue. I mean, we got her back and everything ended up fine, but come  _ on _ . That was  _ such _ bullshit. She tied me to a  _ tree _ !” He sighed. “I was kinda into it until she went all thief on me.”

   “You enjoyed being tied up?”

   “I shouldn’t have said that, should I?”

   Lotor chuckled. “Probably not. Now I have all sorts of ideas of things I could do to you.”

   “Well, fuck.”

   “That is the intention, yes.”

   “Jesus  _ Christ.  _ You just don't have any shame, do you?”

   “Of course I do. I am ashamed of many things I have done, you know that. I do not, however, feel any shame in trying to seduce you.”

   Lance rolled his eyes. “You're awful.”

   “So… is that a no to the sex?”

   “I just ate dinner. Ask again later when I've had more time to digest and we’ll see.”

   “I can do that.”

   They laid quietly for awhile after Lance got Lotor to roll onto his back, just so he could lay his head on Lotor’s chest. Lotor’s heart beat strong and steady, sending a sense of peace through Lance’s body. Right there and then, nothing else seemed to matter. All of his problems were far away from him, somewhere on the other side of that locked door. 

   Until one of them squeezed in underneath the door. He felt so good, being there with Lotor, but he also felt good being with his friends. Being a part of Voltron. Would they take Blue away if he stayed with Lotor? They wouldn't do that, right? And what if they felt more betrayed than they said they would, what if they didn't want to visit or have him visit or anything because he had given them up? Then there was Lotor. How badly would it hurt him if Lance left? Would he also feel betrayed, would he change his mind about Lance? What if he was mistaken about his soulmate thing and Lance came to visit and found him truly in love with someone else? What would he do then, go crawling back to everyone else crying about how they were right and he had been wrong?

   He grabbed a fistful of the fabric of Lotor’s shirt and told himself to focus on the rhythm of his heart. It was going to be okay, he told himself. It would be okay. His friends wouldn't cast him aside because he had fallen in love. Lotor wouldn't replace him with someone else. 

   God, what was he supposed to do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance my boy you'll be fine  
> Anyways. There's gonna be more conflict in the next chapter so stick with me here okay


	12. Exotic Pet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith decides to officially confront Lotor. Lotor doesn't back down from a challenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEYO here's that ~conflict~ I promised have fun kiddos

   For the second time, Lance woke up sore. Not long after he had started questioning what he was supposed to do next, Lotor picked up his attempt at seducing Lance. It almost wasn't fair, the way Lotor could charm Lance so easily that one moment they were innocently laying together and in the next Lance was on his back and he was saying  _ oh, God _ and Lotor's hand was suddenly on his throatーin the sexy way, of courseーand he was saying  _ No. The only name you'll be saying is mine, do you understand me? _

   Lance almost regretting telling Lotor that God was a  _ who _ . Almost. Not quite. It turned out that he rather enjoyed Lotor’s type of punishment. He did not enjoy a day full of Lotor and Keith staring daggers at each other. 

 

*

 

   Keith started it the moment the couple walked into the dining room for breakfast, staring at Lotor like he was a monster. Sure, he was happy that Lotor had killed Zarkon and he wasn't a problem anymore, but there was a fire under his skin that burned in protection of the people he cared about. 

   Keith was not in love with Lance. He loved him, yes, but not like  _ that.  _ Lance was one of his precious friends; after so long of only having Shiro, then having no one while Shiro was missing, he was fiercely protective of the friends he now had. He wasn't alone anymore. The days of sitting in the corner with only his thoughts to keep him company were long gone. There was a part of him that said that he couldn't keep everyone safe all the time, that bad things would happen and there was nothing he could do about it, but damn if he didn't want that part of him to shut the fuck up. He was either going to keep them safe or die trying. 

   He was not, absolutely was  _ not _ , going to stand by and let Lotor sweet talk Lance into throwing away everything he already had for him. Even on the occasions he had failed to keep anyone safe, he always did his best to help with the cleanup. If Lance went through with Lotor’s suggestion, if he stayed there with him and everything went horribly wrong, there would be no cleanup. There’d be nothing left  _ to _ clean. What he had said was true: Lance loved being loved. He loved feeling wanted and needed, like he was a part of something. He missed being a part of his family unit back home because they had always loved him, always been there for him. He loved being a part of Voltron and helping to keep people safe because it made him feel like his existence was worth more than his being a fighter pilot and only being that because of circumstance. He would’ve been miserable if he had stayed a cargo pilot forever. Even if he didn’t say it out loud, it was easy to figure out. 

   He left his family to join the Garrison. The Garrison assigned him as a cargo pilot when he wanted to be a fighter pilot, which only ever happened because he was the  _ next best thing _ when that position opened up. And he wasn’t overly popular back then, either, from what Keith had heard. And then he was being hauled out into space and then he was a part of Voltron and he was a part of  _ something _ that was so much more than anything he could have ever encountered back home. 

   And he was considering leaving it behind, hanging up the suit and taking off the helmet, because of one man he had known for less than a month. 

   How could Keith stand by and watch as that happened? How could he watch Lance put it to the side for the sake of a… boyfriend? Was that what they were? Were Lance and Lotor boyfriends at this point? Friends with benefits? Lotor had mentioned his weird soulmate thing, but how could anyone be for sure that he was telling the truth? Keith had asked one of his sparring partners from the training room, one of the ones he had gotten to be  _ almost _ friends with, if that soulmate thing was actually real. It was real, but it was immeasurable. He couldn’t be for sure that Lotor was telling the  _ truth _ about being in love with Lance or whatever. It would be so, so easy for that bastard to lie to Lance about his feelings. He was a son of an evil, manipulative bastard.

   Keith watched Lotor’s every move all day, listened to every word he said, examining and evaluating every single thing he did. If he had to fight Lotor to the death to keep Lance safe, he’d do it. That man was a killer. Maybe Lance didn’t see the bloodstains, maybe he didn’t fully understand just who Lotor was. When the day’s meeting was over, Keith convinced Hunk to get Lance to hang out with him for the evening. Keith watched with bile in his throat as Lance and Lotor had their nightly goodbye, Lotor putting one hand on Lance’s waist and the other cradling his head, leaning down to kiss Lance. It took too long, there was too much adoration on Lance’s face. 

   When Hunk and Lance disappeared around a corner, Keith said, “Lotor. I need to talk to you. In private, if you don’t mind.”

   Lotor sighed. “Are you going to spend the whole time being angry at me?”

   “Maybe not the whole time,” Keith replied. “Maybe. Haven’t decided yet. You gonna talk to me or not?”

   “Fine, then,” Lotor said. “Lead the way, if you please.” 

   Keith led Lotor away from the dining room, away from the meeting room, all the way outside to one of the gardens. Away from everyone else. Away from where they would be heard. Lotor sat on one of the stone benches, crossing his legs and staring at Keith. Lotor sighed and reached up to tuck some of his hair back behind his ear. He didn’t look happy.

   “What is this about?” he asked. “I assume you intend to tell me to leave Lance alone, yes? To tell me that you want me to tell him to leave with you lot?”

   “Well, I definitely don’t want you to keep him.”

   “I am not  _ keeping _ him. I am offering him a new home, a place here with me.  _ Keeping _ implies  _ owning _ . I do not wish to own anyone, much less him.” He uncrossed his legs and stood, staring down at Keith. “He is precious to me in ways you could never understand.”

   Keith tried desperately to keep from clenching his hand into a fist; he didn’t want to throw the first punch. He didn’t want to throw any punches, actually, but he would if he had to. “I don’t believe you. I wish I did. I wish I could see you as the kind of person Lance sees you as, but I don’t. I don’t believe you one bit.”

   “Tell me, then,” Lotor said. “You think I want to keep Lance to use him for something. What, exactly, do you think I want him for?”

   There was a long pause. Then, “I don’t know,” he admitted quietly. “I’m not sure.”

   “Then there is nothing in particular that you are accusing me of, is there?”

   “Humans aren’t native to these parts. Maybe you want to keep him as an exotic pet,” Keith said hurriedly, trying to come up with whatever he possibly could. It was true he hadn’t been sure of just what Lotor might have wanted from Lance, but… “If I leave him here, what’s to stop you from dressing him up in a God awful slutty outfit and force him to live in it? What’s to stop you from making him into a slave or some shit?”

   Lotor stood a stunned silence for a moment, then his eyebrows raised and he started to  _ laugh _ . “You honestly think that I,” he said, managing words between laughter and gasps for breath, “would dress him up and make him a slave? Keith, you are  _ truly _ amusing, you know that?”

   Keith failed to keep from clenching his hand into that fist he had been trying to avoid. “What’s so funny?” he demanded.

   “You are a fool,” Lotor told him. “You… Keith, Keith,  _ Keith _ . Your human imagination has gotten the better of you. I am an  _ Emperor _ ! If I wanted an exotic pet, a slave in a revealing outfit, I would already  _ have _ one. I would not have waited this long because of a chance that I might be able to lay claim to a paladin of Voltron. You think I value your little group that highly? Don’t make me laugh any more than you already have. I have grown used to your presence, but to do not mistake that for fondness. I get along with some of your group rather well, some of them less so, and then there is, of course, you. The only one who still thinks I am a monster.”

   “You’ve given me no reason to think otherwise. I don’t trust your intentions.”

   Lotor’s amusement ended in that moment. “No? Was I not the one who reached out to  _ you _ , to offer  _ your _ group a chance at peace? Was I not the one who welcomed you, my father’s sworn enemy, into my home? Have I been  _ anything _ but hospitable? I have given you free reign here. You have been free to wander these halls, you have been free to interact with my servants, with the people of my city. You have been able to go visit your  _ ship _ , your  _ lions _ whenever you like. Do you not think that I would have taken them away from you, had them destroyed or have had found new paladins for them by now if I was what my father had wanted me to be? What you think I am?” He stepped closer, leaving no more than a foot of distance between the two of them. Shadows fell upon his face, for once making him look like the son of Zarkon he truly was. “If I was a  _ monster _ , if I had any intentions of doing the things you have implied, you would already be dead. You and the others would be dead, Voltron would belong to me, and Lance would already be stripped of his clothing and chained to a wall in a dungeon.” He smiled almost menacingly. “Do not speak to me of my intentions.” 

   “You killed your  _ father _ . How could I trust you to not do the same to Lance if you get tired of him?” He shook his head. “You can play nice guy with everyone else. You can act like a saint. I won’t believe it.”

   “What would it take for you to see that I am telling the truth?”

   “I don’t think I’ll ever trust you. Allura said that if you hurt Lance, she would watch this place burn with you still in it. But me? I don’t need for you to hurt him for me to want that. There’s nothing trustworthy about you.”

   “Lance, and your friends, I think, would disagree.”

   Keith would have snarled if his vocal chords were capable of it. “Yeah. You’re a damn good liar, aren’t you?”

   “And you are a pigheaded imbecile,” Lotor snapped. “You think yourself better than me? You think your intentions to be any more pure than mine? You claim to be one of my kind, and perhaps there is the blood of the Galra within your veins, but you are not one of us. You are a coward and a fool, nothing more. Your existence is pitiful. If you were not important to him, if I had not promised your group peaceful housing as we came to an agreement, I would have cut off your head already.”

   “See?” Keith said with a victorious smirk. “You are a monster, aren’t you? Threatening to kill me because I disagree with you.”

   “I do not threaten those who disagree with me. I am not even threatening you in this moment. I am trying to put you in your place, because you seem to think that you know me better than I know myself. You act like your word is law, like Lance is a helpless child in need of constant protection, like I am incapable of loving him. I take great offense to that. You, who has yet to feel a true love, know nothing of the universe.”

   “Just because I’m not  _ in _ love with him does not mean that I don’t love him. You say I don’t know anything, but I wonder if you understand there’s more than one kind of love.”

   “I know it well enough. Do not speak to me as though I am a lovestruck child with stars in his eyes and butterflies in his stomach.” If it hadn’t been crude and an act of the unrefined, Lotor would have spit. “The love between friends is a special thing. I have never tried to undermine your love for him, nor anyone else’s. It is  _ you _ who attempts to undermine  _ my _ love for him, a love you have never felt. If you think for even a second that I will let you continue to do so, you are mistaken.”

   Lotor towered above him, staring down and trying to intimidate him. This time, Shiro wasn’t there to keep Keith from grabbing his knife. “You think there’s anything to undermine in the first place? What are you prepared to do for it?”

   “You accuse me of threatening you,” Lotor said, “but you are the one who draws a weapon. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. If a fight to the death is the only thing that would convince you of my feelings, so be it. A fight can be easily arranged.”

   Footsteps interrupted them. They looked over and there was Pidge, looking irritated and resting her hands on her hips. “Really, guys?”

   “What are you doing here?” Keith asked. “Go hang out with Hunk and Lance. I've gotta deal with this asshole.”

   She rolled her eyes and walked over, grabbing the knife straight out of Keith’s hand and tucking it into her belt. “You guys have  _ got _ to stop this. Keith, the whole soulmate thing is a sacred bond to the Galra. By implying that Lotor is lying about it for whatever reason, you're insulting his culture, his beliefs, pretty much everything. Don't look at me like that, I did my research. You're part Galra. You should stop offending the culture you owe your birth to. And you, Lotor. You're a real pain in the ass, y’know that? I mean, Lance loves you and by extension I love you too, but you need to stop letting this shit piss you off. And stop offering fights to the death, please. That’d be really bad.”

   “He started it,” Lotor said. 

   “I know. I'm telling both of you to  _ finish _ it.” She sighed, going to sit down on the nearest bench. “You're fighting over Lance and who cares about him more, about which one of you is better for him to be around. New flash, assholes: Lance can hang out with both of you. I know, take your time. This is a lot to take in. How in the world could a guy be expected to divide his time between his lover and his friends, right?  _ So _ shocking.”

   “Are you sure I can't knife him?” Keith asked. 

   “Positive,” Pidge replied. 

   Lotor stepped away from Keith. “Are we done here? I would like to go spend time with the one I  _ love. _ ”

   Pidge nodded, waving a hand like  _ get outta here _ . “Go on, go get your boyfriend. I think they're hangin’ out in the kitchen. Maybe the library? Fuck if I know. Go do that gay shit, or whatever.”

   He bowed slightly in acknowledgment and walked away, headed off to find Lance and spend the rest of the night with him. 

   Keith started to turn like he was going to leave, too. Pidge cleared her throat to get his attention. “I didn't say you could leave. Come here. Sit with me. We gotta have a talk.”

   “You're like twelve,” Keith said. “Are you really gonna lecture me?”

   “I'm not twelve, asshole. Get over here.”

 

*

 

   There was, at least, one constant truth in the universe. Pidge was not interested in romance. Never had been, never would be. Some people naturally thought that it was odd, the fact that she desired neither romance nor the more physical aspects of a relationship, but that was just how it was. So while the people around her were getting their panties in a wad over  _ my boyfriend said this mean thing _ or  _ I don't know if we should stay together _ or whatever the stupid problem was, she was able to sit back and think about why people acted the way they did. She picked up on the changes in people’s behavior when they were in a relationship or trying to get into one. She may not have had firsthand experience and she definitely didn't want any, but she knew a thing or two about people. 

   Lance had always been the kind of person that hid his insecurities under a mask of false confidence. He flirted and bragged, but the truth was that he was an insecure guy who had lived most of his life feeling mediocre at best. He lived by “fake it till you make it”, hoping that one day he'd trick himself into believing that he really was all of those awesome things he said he was. He never did, but hey, he got an A+ for effort. 

   And then he changed. It wasn't a slow, gradual shift in his behavior, no, it was a near one-eighty in about two days. He was shying away from Lotor’s awed gaze and sweet words, and then he just… wasn't. Pidge didn't know what all had happened when those two ran into each other in the hallway late that one night. She didn't know all of what had happened at the hot springs, though she knew about the confession and the making out she had interrupted. There was a light in his eyes that hadn't been there before, there was a way he talked that she had never heard before, and there was the obvious fact that he was not afraid of Lotor. He  _ liked _ being close to him,  _ wanted _ to be close to him. For once, Lance believed the kind things that were said about him. He wasn't faking it anymore. He held Lotor at his word, believing and trusting in everything he said. He was  _ happy.  _ He didn't hate himself in all the ways he used to. There was nothing better than watching a close friend become confident, watching them realize that,  _ yes _ , they have a place in the universe and they are worth the space they occupy.

   She wasn't sure why it was Lotor. She didn't know what crazy chain of events had taken place throughout Lotor’s life that led him to the decision to reach out to his father’s most hated enemy, she didn't know if the Galra soulmate system was totally one hundred percent legit or if it was a bit bullshit, she didn't know what caused that soulmate thing to kick in, and she  _ definitely _ didn't know how Lance had come to return those feelings in such a short span of time. It was almost unnatural, she thought, but then she reminded herself that the universe was infinite and weird shit happened all the time. Also, time was a social construct and the concept of times like  _ noon _ or  _ midnight _ or  _ three forty-five A.M.  _ were all bullshit that advanced species created in a desperate attempt to try to understand how long they'd be alive and what to do during that lifespan. But that wasn't the point. 

   No, the point was that Lance was head over heels for someone who put him on a pedestal and worshipped him. The point of forcing Keith to sit down next to her and endure a lecture was for him to understand that. He didn't have to like Lotor and he didn't have to think that the relationship between he and Lance would last and he didn't have to tell Lance that it was totally cool if he wanted to stay there with Lotor. All he had to do was  _ accept _ it. He had to swallow his pride and realize that their precious friend Lance was happier than he had been in… fuck, how long had it been? Had they ever even seen him this happy? She didn't think they had. 

   Even if it took all night, she was we going to make sure that Keith understood why he needed to back off, why he needed to trust Lance to make his own decisions and to make the choices that were right for him. 

   It would work out. She knew it. She just had to make him understand it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's fav gremlin to the rescue xoxo  
> SO! I uploaded this chapter a bit later than I would have liked to, but that's because I went laptop shopping with my grandpa today! He promised me a new laptop if I passed all of my classes this last school year (because I've been using a crappy one for.... a long time now lmao) so he took me out today to do that! Next chapter will be posted from my new baby. Thank you all for your continued support! I don't know how many more chapters there'll be, but I'm thinking we're coming up to the home stretch. <3


	13. Strange Woman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Negotiations come to a close. Lance considers his future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YA GIRL SPENCE BACK IT AGAIN WITH THOSE MIDNIGHT UPDATES  
> As mentioned in the end notes of last chapter, this one is being posted from my new laptop! I figured you all may be interested to know that I've named her Allura! The lights under the keys on the keyboard are this really cute purple that reminded me of her so I just. Y'know.

   This was it. It was almost over. All of the terms had been laid out, written down, reviewed, rewritten, reviewed again, agreed upon, put together into one mind numbingly long document that everyone was expected to sign along the dotted line. When the document was signed, the paladins of Voltron, the Alteans who watched over them, the soldiers and workers of all sorts who served the Galra Emperor, and the Emperor himself were to begin their work. It was a simple strategy in theory: solar system by solar system, planet by planet, the remnants of Zarkon’s rule were going to be wiped out. Homes and towns and cities were to be rebuilt, cultural traditions to be put back together, lives to be reclaimed by those that had been taken as slaves. In theory, it would be easy for the paladins and the Emperor to take loyal soldiers to each planet and get rid of those who would resist the Emperor’s new laws. In practice, however, there was no telling how long it would take. In ten thousand years, a lot of people were hurt. A lot of places simply didn’t exist anymore, either wiped out by natural means or by a man who had only craved domination and nothing else.

   The Emperor Zarkon had left behind several things. He left behind a legacy of bloodshed, of the streets running red with the stolen lives of those who would defy him. And he had left behind a son that was willing to try to undo all of the damage his father had caused. He had left behind a son that had been raised surrounded by blood, a son that grew up to detest the ways of his father and to fall in love with one who was supposed to be his enemy.

   Though he hadn’t admitted it yet, Lotor knew of Lance’s existence before they first met. Though he had never been his father’s favorite person, he had been included in a few bouts of conquering and he had certainly been taught about those who stood in his way. Prince Lotor, watching data logs with his father, had always thought that the paladin of the blue lion was a skilled person, one who he would very much like to speak with in civilized conversation if he could. He had never seen the boy’s face, only seen the way he maneuvered his lion and the way he helped keep Voltron as a whole in working order. On some level, though, he had always known. He had always known that the blue one was different from the rest of them, that he had something special about him. And then they met and Lotor saw the boy’s face for the first time and, suddenly, he didn’t feel so bad about wanting to dismantle the awful protocols his father had put into place.

   He had been wary of it at first, of changing the Empire so drastically. His father had entrusted it to him, leaving it for him to watch over after his death. There were some things Lotor didn’t feel bad about, like disposing of some of his father’s most loyal companions, but he wondered. If there was an afterlife, what would his father say to him when he arrived there? Would he be disappointed, angry, enraged? What would he think of the son that had been raised to be brutal and had ended up so soft? Those thoughts had kept him from taking action for far too long.

   He had taken a leap of faith, so to speak. It had paid off in every way imaginable. He liked to think that he had made friends with some of them, he knew he was doing the right thing by undoing all of the awful things his father had done, and he had finally met the blue paladin. And he had been right: there was something special about him, something that the others didn’t have. He was the one that Lotor had always longed for; though this was a secret he would keep to himself until the day he died, he had always dreamed of one day finding the person he was meant to be with. He was not content to live a solitary life, refused to do so. He had spent years upon years upon years imagining what his destined person was like, how perfect they would be. Anyone would have told him that he had dreamed too big, that he would eventually be disappointed because nobody could ever actually live up to his imagination. They would have been wrong. Even with all of the time he had had to think about it, to imagine what his perfect person was like, Lance was better in every single way. He was human, he was flawed, and he was everything that Lotor ever wanted. Much more than he could have asked for. 

   Pidge had, somehow, managed to talk some sense into Keith that night out in the garden. The day after the incident, Keith had reluctantly offered a handshake that Lotor accepted, thus shoving all of their past fights into a chest and locking it tight. Lotor had only accepted it for Lance’s sake; he still disliked Keith immensely, but what could he do? Keith was still important to Lance and Lance was of  _ course _ important to him, so it wasn't like he had much of a choice. 

   Keith hadn't really wanted to extend that hand. Lotor was a murderer, an Emperor with bloodstains on his hands and his clothes. Keith had accepted his Galra heritage, he had come to terms with the fact that he was, technically, one of  _ them.  _ But Lotor? He wasn't just  _ one _ of them. He was the  _ leader _ of all of them, a position he had gained after killing his father. But Pidge was right. It didn't matter what Keith thought of him, not really. Lotor had extended an olive branch and they had accepted it. Everyone had adjusted to being around him; Keith was literally the only one who had been too stubborn to give him a chance. If  _ everyone _ could find it in their hearts to trust him, Keith needed to do the same. Even if it sucked. 

   Pidge had asked  _ why _ Keith was so up in arms about those two being together and Keith had told her the truth. He was protective of his friends. And then Pidge had asked why Keith wasn't like that about Hunk and his relationship with Shay; she may not have had the history of patricide that Lotor did, but she was also an alien that had stolen the heart of one of their friends. And Keith? He didn't have an answer that didn't make him sound like a douchebag. Like he didn't think Lance’s relationship was somehow less than Hunk and Shay’s. If Shay asked Hunk to stay with her, would he have reacted the way he was reacting now?

   No. He wouldn't. He couldn't figure out why, either. Why had he become so overbearingly protective of Lance but nobody else? Why was he willing to let the others go off and do their own things and yet wanted to keep Lance in a glass case like he was a fragile Ming dynasty vase that would shatter if it was touched?

   That realization was like a punch to the gut. He was protective of all of this friends, but between the time he had reunited with Lance that day when Shiro landed back on Earth and now, he had seen Lance in particular get caught up with some nasty shit. And he had gotten it into his head that almost everything Lance trusted would end up being nasty, too, just because of what happened in the past. He had forgotten that the past did not always define the future. Someone raised by a cruel person could grow to be kind and someone who had been taken advantage of in the past could find someone who would love and treasure them beyond belief. 

   Lance’s past was not his future. Keith’s doubt was not going to keep attacking the relationship Lance had found. 

   And to think, the team gremlin made him realize all of that. That was the hardest thing to believe out of all of it. Usually it was Shiro who would talk sense into him and make him see things as they truly were, not  _ Pidge.  _ He had always figured that her specialty was only circuits and wires and code, not relationships and all that shit. He hadn't thought she really knew or understood all of it so much better than he did. Well, shit. He'd been wrong. 

   Lance was over there, standing next to Lotor and looking over the document while Allura peered over him at it. Shiro and Coran were on the other side of Lotor, all of them making for absolute  _ certain _ that everything was in place. He couldn't help but notice that Lotor’s hand was somewhere on Lance’s back. 

   Lance was surprisingly silent given the conversations happening around him. As everyone discussed the document, he stared at the papers intently and leaned into Lotor's touch but kept his mouth shut. He knew that he was expected to make a decision soon. He was running out of time. A part of him wanted to ask Lotor to come with him instead of making him choose, but he knew that it wouldn't work out even if he had the courage to make the suggestion. Lotor was an Emperor, for fuck’s sake. He couldn’t abandon his responsibilities at home; any good Empire needed a ruler living in one place. Empires back on Earth could stretch for hundreds or thousands of miles, but most of their rulers stayed put. There was always paperwork. There were always people that came begging for advice from their ruler. And Lotor didn't have it in him to live the way his father had, ruling the Empire from a spaceship instead of having a steady base of operation. Lotor had come to find that he was very much a homely person, the kind who wanted to have a house they could always go back to. 

   The final page was read, the final agreement was made. The servant without the tongue appeared out of nowhere, laying a bottle of ink and a feather quill pen on the table. Lotor shared a look with the servant and nodded once. “Thank you,” he said.

   The servant bowed and retreated to a corner of the room, somewhere that he could watch the goings on but still be out of the way. He was the only one outside of the Voltron group and the Emperor himself who was allowed to be there for the signing. Though he couldn’t speak, Lance had to admit that he might have been able to consider the man a friend if they had had more time to be around each other; Lotor trusted the man, favored him, gave him the highest honor a servant possibly could have by being assigned as Lotor’s personal attendant.

   Lotor picked up the quill, a rather fancy one that Lance thought must have been used just for special occasions like this, and held it out to Allura. “You are welcome to do the honors, if you please.”

   She smiled and took the quill. “It would be my pleasure,” she said. Lance moved out of her way. She patted the top of his head affectionately as she took the place he had been occupying. Everyone in the room watched as she dipped the tip of the quill in the ink, as she put the tip to the paper, as she signed her name. Black ink on white paper, a permanent mark that promised peace throughout the universe. A mark that said she no longer blamed Lotor for the things his father had done to her people and the people of the universe, a mark that stood as a vow to work with the new Emperor instead of against him from now on. She returned the quill to Lotor. His name was added right next to her’s. 

   They went around the room, one by one, signing their names and making their promises. Every name was written. Every promise was made. For good or for ill, the paladins of Voltron, their Altean guardians and mentors, and the Emperor of the Galra were bound together with words and ink. 

 

*

 

   Their celebration that night was not a grand party with large numbers of guests in fancy ball gowns, nor was it full of music and flowers. It was, simply described, a nice dinner. Nicer than any that had come before it, even. Lance had thought that he had seen the best that the Galra had to offer in the way of cuisine. Though he didn't want to admit it and prayed that nobody really noticed, he had put on a pound or two during his stay there. He wasn't like any of the others, often going and training at night and burning off all of the day’s calories. His nights were spent in the company of Lotor, of course, who was not keen on letting Lance out of his arms if it could be avoided. There had been one occasion where Lotor had to do some paperwork during the evening. Instead of just doing his work like a normal person and then going to crawl into bed, Lance had ended up in Lotor’s lap as he sat at his desk. 

   This dinner was full to the brim with just about every luxury the planet had to offer. It was, in a word,  _ awesome.  _ There were even drinks of the alcoholic kind served, though some of them got more than others. Most of them got no more than a small glass, just enough to taste without getting much more than a mild headache like one they'd get from champagne at a wedding reception. No big deal. In any case, the humans didn't intend to ask for more. The drink didn't settle well with human taste palettes, but apparently it worked for the aliens.

   But the mood didn't last. Before Lance knew it, the sun was sinking and the room was darkening and torches were being lit and lights flipped on.  _ This _ was it. Their last night here. The word had already been sent out that a peace treaty between the Empire and Voltron had been signed, soldiers were given new orders, and the next day, the Castle of Lions would exit Lotor’s hangar, the lions of Voltron would start visiting planets and start changing things. Lotor had agreed that it would be unfair for him to let the Voltron crew do all of the flying around, so he would take care of nearby systems with  _ nearby _ meaning, of course, about three galaxies in any direction. Nowhere he’d have to go very far to get to. The fact that three  _ galaxies _ wasn’t far to Lotor or Allura or Coranーwho had agreed to that being reasonable enough considering Lotor was apparently a homebody and had no intention of moving from place to place the way his father once hadーwas astounding to the little group of Earthlings. Three. Fucking. Galaxies. Three motherfucking galaxies’ worth of distance was  _ nearby _ ?

   Then again, why were they so surprised? They’d been with Allura and Coran for awhile now, travelling the universe and hopping through wormholes. Maybe that was why it seemed so far, Lance thought. As long as all of the lenses and shit were functioning in the castle, a trip that could take ages hardly took any time at all. Three galaxies was a long,  _ long _ way, and yet, with the technology that was being made out there in space, it was nothing at all. Converting the galaxies to follow Lotor’s new rules was a long process, not a long distance.

   Lance knew he was expected to choose. Soon. Would he go with Voltron, with his friends on their mission? Or would he go with Lotor on his? He wanted to kick himself. He still didn’t know. Negotiations were over and everything was planned out and everyone knew what they were going to do except for  _ him _ . And that one glass of alcohol that caused headaches wasn’t making it any easier to think. Not that it mattered. What was there left to think about? He hadn’t  _ stopped _ thinking about it ever since Lotor brought it up. He had to have covered every possible base by now, examined the pros and cons of both routes. He had never had this much trouble coming to a decision, not once, which was pretty impressive considering there was an ice cream shop in his hometown that offered no less than thirty flavors at any given time. That place had wanted him dead or with diabetes, apparently.

   He swallowed down a mouthful of food and excused himself from the table. He walked out of the dining room and down a few halls, ending up in a room full of statues. Statues of white stone, some painted, some plain, all of them depicting gods or heroes or geniuses he didn’t know the names of. One of the statues had a matching stone chair it sat upon, the chair actually being a part of the statue itself. The statue was a woman with her hair tied in a bun, a long draping dress, a soft and kind expression on her face. Lance found himself drawn to her. She looked like his mother.

   There was a little plaque on one of the chair’s legs, he noticed. It read in a language he didn’t know, but it must have been her name; the translators they had were only good for spoken words, not written. Allura and Coran, having once worked closely with the Galra before Zarkon lost his shit, knew the Galran language and what it looked like in written form. They were the only two out of the Voltron crew who actually knew how to read the treaty document as it was written.

   He sat on the floor in front of the statue. “I wonder who you are,” he said softly, speaking to her as if anyone else would hear what he said to her. “What kind of life have you lived? Are you still alive? Maybe you’re dead. Were you someone’s partner? Their muse?” He sighed. “Did you ever have to make a choice that you didn’t think you could make?”

   The stone woman said nothing, just kept looking on with unblinking eyes. “What should I do?” he asked her. His mother had always been there to talk to him when he was upset, was always a shoulder to cry on. He found himself talking to her like he had known her all his life. A strange woman from a strange planet carved into strange stone, and yet… she was so  _ familiar _ . So comfortable. “I’ll visit home no matter what. I will, I know it. I’ll go home for a bit to see my family, tell my mom that I’m okay. Let her know that I’m safe and alive and I love her. Tell the whole family about all the crazy shit I’ve been through lately. But what do I do after?”

   Still no reply from the stone. “I’m pretty fucked, aren’t I? I thought it’d be easier than this. Figured we’d come in here, have some chats, be on our way. Hell, I thought Lotor was more likely to try to kill us than he was to fall in love with any of us. And it was  _ me _ . How crazy is that? He doesn’t like it when I talk about myself like it’s some kind of insanity that he loves me, y’know. Always goes on and on about how great I am and how he doesn’t deserve me and blah, blah, fuckin’ blah. But it really is crazy to me. I mean… fuck, man, how was it me? I’m all lanky and awkward and shit. If I had known ahead of time that he was gonna fall in love with one of us, I would’ve guessed it to be Shiro. I mean, how could anyone  _ not _ love Shiro, right? And if not Shiro, maybe Keith. Maybe Hunk. Allura, even. Not Coran or Pidge, though. Coran’s like a weird uncle, Pidge is like a sister or a cousin or a fuckin’ mascot, I dunno. But especially never me.”

   Talking to a statue was weird. It was crazy. The stone woman couldn’t tell him anything, couldn’t give him any advice or even a shoulder to cry on, but it was oddly comforting. “Everything’s all weird these days. Do you think there’s anything I could do to reach a compromise? Like, maybe we could work something out like I spend time with Lotor, then I go hang out with the others for awhile? Ugh. That’s fuckin’ dumb, isn’t it? This isn’t a custody battle or some shit. I just hate this. I hate this so much. I wish I knew what to do. It’s all so fucked up.” He paused for a moment. Then he sighed and said, “I should get back. They’re gonna be wonderin’ about me soon. Thanks for listening.”

   He stood up and turned back towards the door. He wasn’t quite sure how he had gotten to the statue room, but he was sure he’d figure it out somehow. And he did. He ended up back in the dining room, returning to worried glances and questions of where he had been and if he was alright. He just nodded and said that the drink had just gotten to him and he needed to go somewhere quiet for a minute so the headache would stop. The idea he had had about spending time with both Lotor and Voltron was tempting to share, but how long could he go on for? How long would it take before he broke down, before he couldn’t handle the moving back and forth anymore. 

   The night dragged on. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :3cccccccccc  
> I will leave u all to speculate until next Tuesday have fun and hmu with those theories


	14. Most Special

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance can't put off making a decision any longer. He tells the group just what's been running through his head, and a choice is made. Plans follow shortly after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Spence why do you update at midnight so often" idfk you guys I'm sorry I'm just an awful night owl tbh early birds can kiss my ass I'll stay up all night and get the worm before they even wake up
> 
> Anyways. The second part of this chapter is where I really started thinking about the endgame of this fic since I really can't just. Write this thing forever. At some point it would get stale and gross and nobody would want to read it and I wouldn't want to write it sooooo,,,, the end approaches unfortunately 

   Lance woke up in his own bed. He didn’t remember getting up and going to his room; had he fallen asleep at the table after it had been cleared? Who had carried him to his room? Pft, that was a stupid question. Of course it had been Lotor, if anyone. He got out of bed and changed out of yesterday’s clothes and headed for the dining room once again. Not everyone was in there, just Lotor, Allura, and Shiro. “Good morning, love,” Lotor said as Lance walked in.

   “Morning,” he replied. “Is everyone else still asleep?”

   “It would appear so,” Lotor replied. He motioned for Lance to sit by him and Lance did so. “I suppose last night’s meal and drink wore them all out.”

   “We thought it would be best if the four of us talked,” Shiro said. “ _ Just _ the four of us, without any pressure from the others. Is that okay?”

   Lance nodded. “Yeah, yeah. Thanks. I think that’s best. I, uh, I’d hate for them to freak the fuck out during this.”

   “Have you reached a decision?” Allura asked.

   Silence fell while he stared at the table in front of him and thought. “No,” he admitted. “I haven’t. I’m… not sure what I should do.”

   “You should do what ever it is that your heart tells you to,” Allura said. She took a sip of her drink, something red and thick like a smoothie. “Nobody can ask anything more from you.”

   Lotor made a waving motion with his hand and a servant appeared out of seemingly nowhere, delivering a drink to Lance. He thanked the servant before she disappeared back into the shadows she had come from. “I was wondering something,” Lance said. “Lotor, what, uh, what do the other Galra think of us? I mean, I know word hasn't gotten out to the public yet, but it  _ will.  _ And that's kinda scary.”

   “The other Galra?” Lotor repeated, a bit taken aback by the question. “You worry what they might think of us?”

   “Of course I do. How could I not? I'm human, if you'll remember.”

   Lotor paused, searching for the right words. “I think it depends upon the person. You once told me that your people have a very twisted and complex system of sexuality, yes? That is not so among my own people. The person the universe made for us is our end goal. Though we may have relationships along the way, they are fleeting and meant only for temporary companionship. We generally couldn't care less who spends their nights with who, you see. Your people are still confused about how two males or two females of your species could fall in love, but mine are not. That said, some who do end up destined to be with their opposite will think that it is strange. But that is nothing you need concern yourself with. I would take off the head of any who dared to offer you insult.”

   “I meant what would they think of us considering that  _ I am human. _ ”

   “Ah. My apologies. I seem to have misunderstood.” He cleared his throat; he didn't mind being mistaken around Lance, no, because Lance was the only person he could truly be  _ himself _ around, but being mistaken in front of the others did not settle well with him. “As for interspecies relations, I suppose our species are rather similar. There are those such as myself who were destined to be with one of another kind and there are those who simply believe that it can happen and there is nothing wrong with it. But…” 

   “But?”

   “But there are those who are not so open minded. Some of my people still truly believe that it is the destiny of the Galra race to conquer the entire universe, to make slaves and pets out of all other life. My father was one of those people. I am not.”

   “I know you aren’t,” Lance replied. “So, what, people are going to think it’s weird that you’re with a human?”

   “Some of them may, some of them may not. I do not concern myself with the judgements of those who think they know what is best for me when they do not truly know me. Does it truly matter what they think?”

   Lance shrugged “I guess not. I’m just, well, you know how I am.”

   “Indeed. Do not worry yourself any further, love. I will always take care of you. You know this.” Lotor reached over and rubbed Lance’s shoulder. “You will be alright. You told me about how you were treated on Earth, about how inferior the opinions of others made you feel. I will not let the same thing happen to you here.”

   There was a moment of silence when another servant appeared, this one pushing a food cart and placing small bowls of fruit in front of everyone. Lance welcomed the distraction, taking one of the fruits and biting into it. He chewed slowly, swallowed reluctantly. He thought about his little one-sided conversation with that statue and, before he knew it, he was saying, “I don’t want to pick between living with either of you. Can’t we work something out? Like, I’ll stay at one place for awhile until I feel like going to the other? I thought about that last night and I almost brought it up, but I was freaked out that I might get super tired of moving around all the time, y’know? But I’ve been tearing myself apart for days and I get sick even thinking about trying to  _ choose _ and it’s hard to sleep and I justー”

   “Lance,” Shiro said, “of course we could work something out. Have you spent this whole time thinking you really had to stay with one of us  _ forever _ ?”

   “Well, yeah, I mean… it made sense.”

   Shiro sighed. “God, Lance. I’m sorry we didn’t sit down and talk to you about all the options. I figured you’d know already that we’d understand if you still wanted to do both, being with him sometimes and still helping with Voltron and everything. It’s not like we were going to stop needing you to be a paladin if you chose to live here exclusively. We’d steal you away every now and again, anyways. There’s no reason you can’t do both.”

   Lance let out the most relieved sigh of his fucking  _ life _ . “Seriously?” he asked in mild disbelief. “I’m such an idiot, aren’t I?”

   “No, you aren’t,” Shiro said. “We all know you over think things, especially where you fit in with us. This is on us. I’m so sorry.”

   If he had thought he could get away with it without the others freaking the fuck out on him, he would’ve hit his head on the table. Instead of doing that, he took a deep breath and let it back out in a long, long sigh, trying to convince himself that he wasn't a dumbass. “Alright, then. I'd like to work that all out.”

   Allura nodded. “Of course. We can continue this once the others are awake.”

   Lance grabbed another little fruit. “You had these brought to me once,” Lance said. Shiro and Allura looked at him curiously. He nodded towards Lotor. “That first night we were here, when he sent dinner to our rooms. I had these that night.”

   “You remember what I had delivered to you back then?” Lotor asked. 

   Lance rolled his eyes. “You say that like it was years ago. Of course I remember. I… have fond memories of that night, y’know. I enjoyed talking with you then, even if it was in the dark.”

   Lotor’s cheeks darkened slightly, barely noticeable to the others but obvious to Lance. “Yes, that was nice, wasn't it?” He smiled. “And I have enjoyed every moment since.”

   “Gay,” Pidge yawned as she walked into the room, going over to take her seat. “You guys are super gay.”

   “What's your point?” Lance replied. 

   “Just that you're gay,” she said with a shrug. 

   “ _ Excuse _ you, I'm bisexual, thank you very much.”

   “That's at least half gay, though.”

   “Yeah, well, you'reー”

   Shiro sighed heavily and ran his hands down his face. “Can we please have one day without you guys doing things like this?”

   “She started it!”

   “He's super gay, though, isn't he, Shiro?”

   Shiro groaned. “ _ Guys. _ ”

   While Shiro got pulled into their little, well, whatever that was, Allura and Lotor shared a look that said something along the lines of  _ humans, am I right?  _

   But they loved them. They really, really did. Humans were complicated and, sometimes, they could be downright scary. They did the craziest things. Lotor didn’t know much about humans, not yet, but he’d been learning all sorts of things as he interacted with Lance and his other paladin friends. Some of them used dyes and inhaled fumes for hours in the pursuit of a different hair color, others would put little things into their eyes to change the color they displayed, they willingly went searching for dangerous animals that would tear them apart if provoked, they had metal put into their own mouths to straighten their teeth for what Lance described as  _ the aesthetic,  _ and not to mention the fact that they  _ regularly _ did insane things like jumping off of cliffs for fun or standing on train tracks and waiting until the last second to jump out of the way. Humans were stupid, reckless, absurd in every single way, and yet, they were incredible.

   It had begun to rub off on Lotor, on Allura, on Coran too; everyone who came into contact with a human found that, sooner or later, they rather liked them. Humans tore each other apart, dropping the insane power of nuclear bombs on each other because of their disagreements and prejudices, and yet… they were, at their core, good. For as many cruel people existed within their species, there were twice as many with kind hearts. They stood up for the people who couldn’t stand up for themselves, they gathered in huge numbers to demand rights for themselves and for others, they made the wishes of dying children some true. Lotor had once said that he doubted the other residents of Earth would be so accepting of him as Lance was, based on the reactions of the other paladins. But all they had needed was time, needed to get to know him. He had heard tales of humans, way back before he had met any, back when he stood by Zarkon’s side and watched on as he laid claim to everything in front of him. Zarkon said that humans were vile creatures, dirty beasts suited to crawling on the floor and not much else.

   Gods, Lotor had never been so happy to find out that someone was wrong in all his life. His destined one was human, and through him, he had grown to love other humans. Like they were all connected. Like they were all good in their own ways, that though they were each small on their own, the connections between them made each individual special in some way.

   Of course, his human was the most special of all.

 

*

 

   There was a brief silence. Then Hunk just shrugged like nothing important had happened and said, “I’ll help you move your stuff, if you want. I mean, I know we haven’t really accumulated much since we left Earth, but if there’s anything you wanna grab when you visit I can totally help.”

   Lance smiled. Hunk was always so reliable. Also, he was  _ wicked _ strong, which made him the ideal moving helper, really. “Thanks, bud. My mom’s gonna be super excited to meet you. She always wanted to when I called home and talked to her.”

   “Aw, you told your mom about me?”

   “Of  _ course _ I did,” Lance said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You’ve been my best friend since I joined the Garrison. I told her about Pidge, too, y’know. And I made a brief mention of Keith once or twice.”

   Pidge made an  _ ooooo _ sound. “Now I gotta visit, too. Your family will totally love me.”

   “Yeah, yeah.” Lance rolled his eyes good naturedly. “Whatever you say.”

   Keith sat up a little straighter in his chair. “Can I come, too?”

   “I guess,” Lance replied. “Why?”

   “I just… I figured I should meet your family, that’s all.”

   Lance paused for a second, looking around the table. Everyone was awake and sitting and eating their breakfast in between sentences; it had already been established to the late risers what Lance wanted to do, that he wanted to come and go wherever and whenever he pleased because he just couldn’t stand to stay with only ever Lotor or only ever Voltron or, hell, only ever his family back on Earth. He had decided somewhere along the line that he was definitely going to pop in there more than just the one time to tell everyone that he was alive. It’d be a dick move to show up back home for a day or two and then be gone again, lost back out in the mess of space. 

   “Ah, what the hell? You’re all invited,” he said. “Every last one of you. Come meet my fuckin’ family. It’ll be great. They probably won’t shoot you.”

   “Probably?” Shiro asked, the humor in his voice giving it away that he wasn’t remotely worried. “I sure hope not.”

   “They’re good people,” Lance promised. “You’ll love ‘em. They’ll love you guys.”

   Lotor swallowed, more nervously than he ever had. “AーAre you sure, love? I’m not quite sure they would welcome me. Allura and Coran, perhaps, because they could more easily blend in with your kind. I fear that I would intimidate them, and if I did, they would not want you to go off with me again.”

   Lance waved his hand in the air, more nonchalant than he might have had the right to be. Though he promised that his family would be welcoming, there was a part of him that was well aware that he was not only planning to bring home  _ three _ aliens, but he was planning to bring home one very large, very purple one who was very, very in love with Lance. So much so that anyone who didn’t understand their relationship may have thought he was obsessed. He couldn’t promise that his family would react to the three aliens the same way they would to four humans, even if one of them did have a metal arm. “Don’t think about it too much, alright? They’ll give you a chance, at least. I’m sure they’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. And my mom is a  _ very _ good judge of character. And a very, very nice lady. You’ll be fine.”

   “You’re certain? You think they will accept me?”

   “Relax. I love you, alright? As long as I love you and they can tell and they know that, it’ll be alright. If you’re important to me, you’re important to them. And if my big sister doesn’t like you, she’ll tell me.”

   “Your big sister?”

   “Yeah, she’s pretty mouthy. Kinda sassy. She’s somethin’ else, but if she likes you, she’ll be your friend for, like, forever.”

   “I do hope you’re right.”

   “I am. I think I know my own family.”

   “I look forward to meeting them, then,” Allura said. “I’m rather excited. Your family sounds lovely.”

   Lance could see the slight sadness in her eyes. Her family was  _ dead _ . The only person she had left was Coran and maybe the four mice, if they counted for anything. He smiled as sweetly as ever and said, “If my family likes you guys half as much as I like you, they’ll adopt every last one of you. Even if you’re ten thousand years old. You’re gonna be like their new kids. And the little ones, God, they’re gonna  _ love _ you guys and all of the stories you’ll have for them. They’ve probably gotten so big, though, so they probably aren’t  _ little _ anymore. I don’t know. I mostly just hope they still remember me enough to like me.”

   “They’re your family, Lance. They won’t have forgotten you.” Allura reached across the table, offering her hand. He took it and she squeezed reassuringly. “Your entire family will be thrilled to find out that you’re still alive. Perhaps you have a few more scars now, but they won’t mind that. After you’ve explained everything to them, they will understand why you didn’t come straight back home, I’m sure.” She looked around at everyone much in the way he had before inviting them all home. “We would  _ all  _ be honored to meet your family.”

   Lance broke out into a huge smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what could go wrong tbh


	15. Earthen Protocols

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and the crew head home, wondering the whole time what will greet them when they arrive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I give up on justifying midnight uploads tbh just take it  
> Also gomen this one is kinda long rip

   The idea of going home was both thrilling and nerve wracking. Introducing his human friends was one thing, but now that he really stopped and thought about it, introducing aliens to the people back home was a scary prospect. He pulled the blankets up a little further, snuggling up against Lotor’s sleeping body. He had fallen asleep quicker than Lance had ever seen, which wasn't entirely surprising. Lotor must have used too much of his energy on worrying. He kept it under wraps when they were around the others, but when he and Lance were alone again that night, he all but fell apart. His words started out calm enough, then gradually got more and more panicked as he went on.

   Lotor was _afraid._

   He wasn't afraid of Earth, of course; how could he be? Earth was just one planet, one he could probably wipe out in a single stroke, maybe two strokes on a bad day. He knew that humans had awful weapons, though they had nothing that would take out him and him alone; human poisons would likely be ineffective on his foreign body, no mere human could hope to defeat him in hand-to-hand combat, and of course he planned to wear his armor as defence against any guns or knives that Lance’s family might produce. No, no, he wasn’t afraid of any physical attacks. He could defend himself easily.

   He was afraid that they would start going on about how he wasn’t good enough for Lance. How he was unworthy, how Lance deserved better. Which was true, it was so, so true, and no matter how much Lotor tried to change he could never change where he came from or who he had once been. And if Lance’s family even had the slightest comprehension of who he _really_ was…

   That was when Lance pulled him down for a kiss to shut him up. Lotor let out a long breath when the kiss was over, looking into Lance’s eyes and whispering, “I just want to be a part of your life. I fear I will not be able to do so if your family does not accept me.”

   Lance softly shook his head. “Hush. Stop it, okay? Stop worrying. You worry too much, you know that? When we met, I had no idea you were such a goddamn worrier.”

   Lotor shrugged. “I only worry when it comes to you, my love. I worry about you, how my actions affect you, how my presence in your _family’s_ home will affect you. I am not one of your kind. They will be taken aback.”

   “They can suck it up if they don’t like it,” Lance replied. “I chose you, Lotor. I _chose_ to be with you. If they don’t like you, I’ll try my damndest to convince them to like you. And if there’s nothing that can be done, nothing I can say that’ll make them see things my way, fine. Let there be a bit of strain when it comes to my romantic life. I can take it.”

   “I do not want you to suffer because of me.”

   “Lotor. I am choosing to be with you, regardless of the _possibility_ of suffering. It’ll be okay.”

   “I do hope you’re right.”

   Lance went in for another kiss.

   The kiss had, naturally, turned into a bit more. Their kisses often did. First it was all sweetness and gentleness and romance, and then it was hands and teeth and touching and groping, and then it was hands fisted in the sheets and desperate whimpers and moans. And then there was the silence, the blissful peace of _after_ , the catching of breath and the smiles and the resumption of gentleness, a haze of love and the afterglow of pleasure.

   That was how they got there, Lance snuggling against Lotor as he slept. Usually Lotor was good about staying awake after sex, long enough for Lance to go to sleep because he hated to leave Lance awake alone, but this time was different. He had just… passed out, overcome with the internal exhaustion that came with constant worry and the physical exhaustion that came with intense passion. That was just how the proverbial cookie crumbled. Lance smiled to himself; it was kind of sweet, actually. The fact that he was so concerned about meeting Lance’s family was unusually precious. He loved Lance so much that he was genuinely _scared_ that he wasn’t going to pass the family’s test, a test he was sure was going to exist.

   Lance neither confirmed nor denied Lotor’s concerns. He knew that there was going to be a test of some type or another, but he really didn’t want to get Lotor any more worked up than he already was. If he knew that he was going to get grilled two ways to hell by each and every person Lance was related to as they came over to see him, he’d never sleep again. He’d spend every night until they got to Earth pacing the room and trying to figure out answers to questions that hadn’t been asked yet, trying to think of what the human family would most like to hear from the man their beloved Lance brought home.

   On some level, Lance still wasn’t convinced that all of this was real. He thought to himself that maybe he had fallen asleep in the carriage on the way to the castle, that everything that had happened was a dream based on the kindness with which Lotor had spoken to him. He thought that maybe Lotor’s kindness in the carriage had just been out of the good of his heart, not necessarily love, and he thought that maybe he was still asleep. Having a very, very, _very_ long dream.

   But that couldn’t be it. He would have woken up when Lotor first kissed him if it had been a dream. It wasn’t a dream. It was real. And he fucking loved it.

 

*

 

   “Lance, are you okay?” Hunk asked. They sat in their seats on the bridge of the Castle of Lions, headed towards Earth against all odds. “You look scared.”

   “I feel like I’m gonna lose my breakfast, but other than that, I’m great.” He slowly took in a deep breath, slowly let it out. “Of course I’m scared, Hunk. It’s been ages since I’ve been home and I’m bringing a whole bunch of people home with me. And, until I introduce the aliens to my family, they’re probably gonna think I’ve spent the past however-long-its-been high or drunk or both and living in the slums somewhere. I mean, come on. Kidnapped by a large robot lion and taken out to fight in an intergalactic space war against some ten-thousand year old evil withered turtle?”

   Pidge laughed. “Evil withered turtle? Is that was Zarkon was?”

   “Did you ever get a good look at his face? He totally looked like a fuckin’ dried up turtle!” Lance insisted. “Dude needed some chapstick. God, _I_ need some chapstick, honestly. The food goo has been fine for my skin, but my poor lips deserve better.”

   Lotor was leaning over the back of Lance’s chair, resting his chin on the top of his head. “I think your lips are fine, actually.”

   Lance rolled his eyes. “You’re the turtle’s son. Clearly your idea of what lips should be like is way different from mine.”

   “Excuse me,” Lotor said. “I may be his son, but I did not inherit his being a… turtle? What’s a turtle?”

   Lance opened his mouth to explain but immediately fell silent. “Y’know what, I’m not even gonna try. It’ll be easier to just show you one. Some of ‘em are pretty cute, but some of them are _super_ ugly and brutal. And they’re all weird as shit.”

   Pidge kept snickering. “They can be ugly. You're gonna be so pissed about the comparison when you see one.”

   “He was comparing Zarkon to a turtle, not Lotor,” Shiro reminded her.

   “Which, by extension, makes Lotor a turtle, too.”

   “But what makes you say that turtles are ugly?” Lotor asked. “Surely they can't all be that bad.”

   “Can we stop talking about turtles now?” Lance asked exasperatedly. “Never would've tried to make a turtle joke if I had known it was gonna end up like this.”

   “Got your mind of your nervousness for a minute, didn't it?” Pidge asked, suddenly sounding a lot more serious than she had just a minute ago. “You’re freaking out over there. I'm just trying to lighten the mood.”

   He sighed. Lotor’s hands rested on his shoulders, rubbing them gently and calmly. “Yeah. I meant what I said about my family being accepting. I’m sure they will give you all a chance. It’s just becoming real now, it’s not just a concept anymore. I don’t think it’s that weird for anyone to get freaked out when they realize something they’ve looked forward to is actually happening. What if it goes wrong, y’know? What if you’ve spent too much time building it up in your head and it ends up being nothing like your picture of what it should be?”

   Pidge gave an understanding nod. “Nothing ever ends up exactly what you picture it to be. If it did… all of our lives would be a lot different. None of us would be here right now. Everything would be different. Nobody wants to end up in a fucking robot lion out in space fighting for their lives, but here we all are, having done just that. And guess what? We’re all doing fine. We had a rough start and we’ve had a lot of bumps in the road, but we’re all still here and we’re all living. Everyone here made new friends, cheesy as that sounds. And you? You’re practically fucking married at this point, so that’s pretty good. I know for a fact you didn’t imagine _that_ happening.”

   “You’re insane,” Lance said with a roll of his eyes. “I’m not married, practically or not.”

   “I don’t think that would be so bad, though,” Lotor said. “I have already decided I want to be with you for as long as I possibly can, considering your unfortunately short lifespan. What is human marriage like?”

   “Are you _proposing_ to me? Like, right now?”

   “Not officially. I am simply offering up the possibility.”

   Keith readjusted in his seat. Reminded himself to not be stupidly overprotective. Besides, Lotor said straight-up that it wasn’t an official proposal. It was hard not to be affected by his suddenly asking what human marriage was like, though, especially considering the human notion that marriage wasn’t something to just rush into after so little time. Because as close as Lance and Lotor were, there was still a distinct lack of time. He checked his breathing, making sure to keep it steady and regular. He said, “If you’re serious about marrying him, Lotor, you’d better do it the right way.”

   Lotor stood a little straighter, his chin finally leaving its perch on Lance’s head. “I believe I did ask what your rituals are. I have every intention of doing right by him.”

   “You’re gonna have to ask his parents or Allura or someone for his hand, in that case,” Keith replied. “Human tradition. If the family doesn’t want you to propose to him…”

   Lance groaned. “I changed my mind, alright? Let’s go back to talking about turtles.”

   More teasing and joking followed, more sighs and groans, more eye rolls and head shakes. There had been a time where Lance was genuinely afraid of being teased, somehow thought that everything that was said to him was meant literally. He was used to his family’s teasing and didn’t mind that, but he could never wrap his head around anyone else’s. In the Garrison, he had been a walking bundle of nerves, jumping every single time someone so much as looked at him in a way he wasn’t used to. He took things to heart and he held onto that habit for a long time, only letting it go when he felt like everyone involved with Voltron had relaxed into a family.

   It didn’t hurt any more. He wasn’t afraid of being teased, wasn’t afraid of teasing in return. It was comfortable, somehow. The joking and the laughter and the neverending firing of words that were sometimes meant to sound serious but never did. Some people were lucky to have even one family, what with the awful happenings on Earth with all of the hatred and infidelity and stupid shit like that. He had been blessed with a second family. No matter where he went, he would always be safe.

   There was suddenly a slight jolt as the castle came to a complete stop. Everyone looked from each other and to the viewing window, all of their hearts skipping a beat at the same time. There it was. There was Earth. There was _home_. They could only get so close with the castle, considering the size and how someone was bound to fire at them if they kept approaching without contacting someone important down there first. Lance, though eager as all hell to get down there, sat back and let Allura and Shiro take care of all of that mess. He was almost home. It was happening. He’d be back on Earth soon, so soon he could almost taste it.

   When they were back at Lance’s place, when he had introduced his friends to his family and everyone was settled, he was going to make sure that he took everyone down to the beach he loved so much, to see the ocean he had practically grown up in, to hear the seabirds and to feel the warm sand under their feet. How could he bring everyone home and not take them to one of the things he had missed the most about Earth?

   Coran looked over at the group, the ones left still sitting around instead of dealing with the officials from Earth, and said, “You all ought to go get some sleep, except for you, Shiro. It could be a while before we’re allowed into the atmosphere, even longer before we can land, probably.”

   Pidge shrugged. “You guys need my expertise, too, in case they won’t let us land. I can stick around.”

   Coran gave her a _look_ and said, “Don’t underestimate us just because are are unfamiliar with Earthen protocols. Go sleep. That’s an order.”

   Shiro patted her on the head as he went to join Allura and Coran where they stood. “They’re right. Go take a nap. We’ll take care of it. They’ve got me here.”

   She came very close to sticking her tongue out at him, but the gesture was a bit too childish even for her. _Even_ , of course, being a reference to her role as the team gremlin/mascot, not to say she was actually childish. She sighed in defeat and walked out of the room with everyone as they headed to their room to grab some naps before returning home. Maybe Coran and Shiro were right; maybe the rest of them did need to get some sleep. They had slept recently, sure, but having a bit of extra energy for something as exciting as going home surely couldn’t hurt. She grinned when she looked down the hall to see Lotor disappearing into Lance’s room with him.

   They were totally married.

   But if she thought that any shenanigans happened behind that particular closed door, she would be wrong. They actually took the nap they were told to take, nothing more and nothing less. Lance let himself be held close, didn’t fight sleep as it approached. When Lance was a kid, he had never been the kind who could just _take a nap._ When he was a teenager, things were always too rowdy around the house for him to even consider sleeping during the day. And then he went to the Garrison and had negative five chances to take a nap, and _then_ , well, Voltron happened. He had a lot of missed sleep to catch up on and now that he had the chance to start, he wasn’t going to let it slip through his fingers. Especially if he was supposed to go back home and back to that loud, excitable house he knew as home. And so even though he wanted to go and grab a pod and get home without any delay, he slept.

   Lotor did not. Lance was nervous about seeing his family again. Lotor was terrified to meet them for the first time. He held Lance in his arms, the whole time wondering what he was going to do. He understood now how Lance had felt when he was trying to decide if he should stay with Lotor or go with Voltron. The not being able to sleep, the worry gnawing at his gut. It was a living nightmare to be so concerned about one thing.

   He sighed. He wasn’t sure how much time passed before the door open and Shiro poked his head in and said that it was already time to get up, that somehow they had already arranged for a landing.

   Lance asked how long it had taken when everyone was awake and back on the bridge. Shiro sighed and said that it had taken a good few hours, first trying to contact someone, then being transferred to someone else, then being transferred to someone _else_ who was stationed relatively close to where Lance lived. And then Shiro, being the only human still awake, spent a long time discussing things with that guy. The guy was exhausting, failing entirely to understand that Shiro was _not_ high and was actually serious about being out in space and needing a landing spot. They had _eventually_ gotten a place at a local landing strip and they were in decent now, headed back to Earth after all this time.

   It felt to Lance like everything was a crazy blur, like it was an insane out of body experience, like he couldn't even comprehend everything happening around him. He was vaguely aware of being the ship landing, vaguely aware of officials descending on them like vultures to a corpse, the questions and the pressure and the barely managing to convince someone to please not take any of them into custody because there was a perfectly logical explanation for all of this that they would be happy to discuss at a later time because they already had very important plans. Vague, vague, vague. Was any of this really real? It didn't seem possible, it really didn't, there was no way this was happening.

   And then he caught a glimpse of the ocean as they walked and everything snapped back into place. He knew this place. He knew the people questioning them. He gasped at the realization and stepped forward, saying the name of one of the officials in front of them.

   His name was… uh, what was his name? God, he should have _remembered_ this but he just _couldn’t_. He had lived down the street from Lance when they still lived with their parents and they had played in the mud together and had loitered around that ice cream place with the thirty flavors. His jaw dropped when Lance stepped out of the crowd. “Holy shit,” he said, getting a stern look from someone who must have been his supervisor. He didn't pay attention. “Lance? Is that you?”

   “Yeah. It's me. I'm home,” Lance said. “Do you think you could help us out here? I _swear_ we’ll set something up so we can explain everything. Hell, if you get ahold of them, the Garrison will vouch for me and four of these guys. They’ll have all the information you need. This guy,” he said, grabbing Shiro and pulling him over, “is Takashi Shirogane, the pilot of the Kerberos mission, remember? There’s no way there wasn’t a big stink about that time he showed back up on Earth rambling about aliens. Well, I mean, they might have kept it under wraps, but… Anyways, the the rest of us went looking when he showed up again and _we_ got sucked into some crazy shit and these other three are actually, well, they're a longer story. A story that I am more than willing to personally tell after I've gone home and seen my fucking family again.”

   The man who’s name Lance couldn’t quite remember, despite it being on the tip of his tongue, was silent for a moment. He then nodded, reached over and touched his superior’s arm. “We thought this kid was dead. His _family_ thinks he's _dead_ somewhere. I know this guy and I know we can trust him. I remember the day he left home to go join the Garrison. If he says he’ll talk to us later, he will. I’ll bet my career on it.”

   The superior paused, evaluating the group and considering the look in the man’s eyes. Then he sighed loudly, cracking under the weight of the man’s pleading eyes. “Fine. I expect all of you,” he said, looking at the group, “to be here tomorrow morning at eleven sharp, you understand?” He looked back to the boy. “If they don’t show up, you’re going to get them. If they aren’t here anymore, consider your job here _done_. I like you, kid. You better not be wrong.”

   He nodded and said, “Of course, Sir. I will accept all disciplinary action if it comes to it.” He looked back to Lance. “I’ll be on your doorstep tomorrow morning.”

   Lance nodded. “Alright, deal. Thank you.” He held out his hand first to the man he should have known, shook, and then offered the same to the superior. “Hell, if it’ll make you feel better, you can send someone to tail us. I don’t care. But I’m going home today.”

   The officials kept them around just a little longer than they would have liked, asking a few more questions and confirming roughly eighty times that they would _be there_ tomorrow and weren’t going to skip town. They even took Lance up on his offer to let someone go with them, to keep track of all of their movements. It was obnoxious, it was stupid, it was frustrating. It was necessary to get them to let the group go. Lance didn’t quite understand why they hadn’t just landed in some empty field somewhere and bypassed all of this. Sure, sure, someone could have tried to blow them out of the sky since an unidentified spaceship was entering Earth’s atmosphere and landing without permission, but _still_. The officials made a few calls, talked to a few people, made a recording or two, and eventually let them go. It wasn't that Lance had thought they would just take his word for it and let him leave and wander town right away, but he had hoped that maybe the process would be sped up a little.

   In the end, the woman appointed with the task of watching the group’s movement crawled into the driver’s seat of an unmarked van and barked an order for the group to climb in. They had little choice but to obey, considering that five humans and three _literal aliens_ walking down the street would cause a bit of a fuss. Lance sat in the passenger seat, telling the woman where his house was and giving her directions if she needed them. Lotor sat behind him with his hands once again rested on his shoulders, leaning as far forward as his seatbelt would allow, trying to get to a point where he could rest his chin on Lance’s shoulder instead of just his hand.

   Lance took in a breath as they drove, as he started recognizing streets and buildings and trees. “My family is going to freak out, so don’t be alarmed. They can be… pretty loud. They’re easily riled up, they ask a lot of questions to strangers, and I promise you that they _will_ try to shove food down your throats. They’re good hosts. Pushy hosts who want everyone to eat no matter what, but still good hosts. You’ll see. God, I wonder if I can get my mom to make some of those brownies she used to make for me. They’re _so good._ ”

   Of course all eight of them were exhausted, some more so because they hadn’t had naps during the hours of negotiations from space and then the hours of trying to make a deal with some officials, but at the mention of good Earth food the other humans perked up. “Brownies?” Hunk asked.

   “Did I never tell you? Dude, my mom _literally_ makes the best fucking brownies in the world. And her cookies are to die for. But don’t get your hopes up, alright? Before she makes any sweets, she’s gonna want to make us all a nice warm meal. We don’t eat dessert first in our house.”

   “That sounds good to me,” Shiro said. “It’s been way too long since I last had a homely meal.”

   “Excuse me,” Lotor said, turning around and looking back a couple of rows to where Shiro sat at the back of the van. “No offence to Earthen cuisine, but you ate plenty well at my castle.”

   Shiro nodded and said, “I did, but your planet isn’t my home. Doesn’t count.”

   Lotor rolled his eyes. “I feel like it sort of does count. It was all cooked at my home. It isn’t like I fed you food that came from _boxes_.”

   “Totally doesn’t count, though,” Pidge interjected. “It’s a homely meal to _you_ because that’s literally your home. Even if the food you served us was cooked there, we were never really at home out there.”

   “I bet Lance thinks it counts,” Lotor muttered, turning back around about the time the van pulled to a stop. Lance’s shoulders stopped moving with his breath as he held it, staring out the window at an all too familiar house.

   There was a brief moment of panic, then one of chaos as everyone filed out of the car and nothing else mattered to Lance as he ran, really _ran_ , to the front door. The humans of the group stood closest behind him, the aliens taking up the back. Lance reached a shaking hand out to ring the doorbell. Was he breathing? He wasn’t sure if he was breathing or not. This was crazy. This was unreal. He didn’t care how many times he thought that it was insane or that it might not be real. Until that door opened and he saw his mother there and felt her touch again.

   He heard a voice from somewhere inside the house saying that they’d be right there. Lance’s stomach tied itself into knots as he waited. And then he heard the locks on the door being undone, saw the knob turn and the door being pulled inwards…

   He smiled and said, “I’m home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter we meet mom :3333


	16. Her Son

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seeing his family again is a dream come true for Lance. Seeing her boy alive again was all his mother wanted.  
> The family reunion is a long one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You've heard of midnight updates, but now you'd better get excited for the new THREE IN THE MORNING UPDATE!  
> Seriously, I need to be asleep, but here I am. Oops.

   “So, you’re telling me,” Lance’s mom started, looking from Lance to Lotor and then back to her son, “that you and your friends got abducted, managed to make the best of it, and then you got engaged in… space?”

   Pidge burst out laughing. “ _ Told  _ you that you guys are practically married!”

   Lance sighed and rubbed his temple. “We aren’t engaged. We’re… it’s hard to explain, but we aren’t engaged or married or any of that.” He reached out to the bowl in the middle of the table and grabbed one of the chips; his mom was now making her way around the kitchen, going about making a meal without having to make a run to the store, and so she had poured a bowl of chips for them to snack on while she worked. Just to snack, of course, because she made it  _ very _ clear that she intended for them to eat well that day. “You know I’d never get engaged without talking to you about it first.”

   She smiled. “Good. Although, I have to admit that I’m pretty surprised.”

   “That I brought home an alien?”

   “That you brought home someone so well-behaved.”

   “What’s that supposed to mean?”

   She chuckled and shook her head, still smiling, and turned her attention back to the stovetop, pasta boiling in one pot and eggs in another. “All of the people you’ve dated before have been… how do I say this without sounding awful? Oh, you know I love you, but you just haven’t chosen very well.”

   That was, quite frankly, true. “Well. You aren’t wrong.” He leaned over and put his head on Lotor’s shoulder. At least, as close as he could to putting it there. No matter where they were in the universe, Lotor was still too damn tall. “Lotor won’t give you any trouble. I’m surprised you didn’t freak out when I brought a large purple man into the house.”

   She took the lid off the pot of pasta and stirred it a little, then replaced the lid, deciding it could boil a little while longer. “If you think I’m not shocked that there’s, what,  _ three _ aliens sitting around my dining room table, you’re very, very wrong. But my being shocked or surprised or anything doesn’t matter, not really. What matters is that you’re my son and I want you to be happy above anything else. I didn’t carry you for nine months and then go through all of those hours of labor and  _ then _ raise you for all those years  just to reject you and someone you love because they’re… not quite what I had pictured when I thought about who you would end up with.”

   “What kind of person did you think I’d end up with?” he asked. 

   “Oh, I’m not quite sure,” she said, reaching over and turning off the heat to the eggs. “Maybe someone like Hunk over there. He seems like he would balance you out pretty well, and that’s what I was always most concerned about. You’ve always needed someone with a steady head, but someone still casual enough to keep up with you when it came down to it. I didn’t think you’d ever end up with someone so formal, if I had to try to put a proper explanation to it.”

   “My being formal isn’t a bad thing, is it?” Lotor asked. “My father was, in the words of your people, a bully. I decided I did not want to be like him. I took up formality to escape brutality.”

   “No, no, of course it isn’t,” she assured. “I only meant that I wouldn’t have imagined Lance being with someone like you. I don’t mind it, though. Maybe you can keep him in better check when his thoughts get away from him.”

   “It is an honor to be there for him,” Lotor replied, “but I must admit that I fear he keeps me in check more often than I do him. There are things that I would like to avoid, but I cannot erase the way I was raised. He keeps me calm.”

   Pidge grabbed a chip. “I've got a question. This is kinda off-topic, but you know I've gotta ask. The family is huge, right? Where's everyone else?”

   Lance’s mom now turned off the heat to the pasta. She leaned down to check the chicken breasts baking in the oven. “My husband is at work. Only one of Lance’s siblings still lives here, but he's out with friends right now. I'll start calling people to tell them to come see him after I've fed all of you. You all need to eat before I start bringing in the grandparents and the aunts and uncles and siblings and… Lord, have we always been related to that many people?”

   Despite knowing that there was an approaching onslaught of relatives and questions and introductions, Lance smiled. The next few days were going to be  _ long _ . He looked forward to each and every one of them, no matter what hell they brought. His dream was coming true. He was getting to see his family again. His own flesh and blood, the people he had always loved, the people who had always been there for him… his family. Even if they didn’t fully believe his story the way his mother didーshe was a saint, never once doubting the honesty of her sonーand even if they hated his friends and even if they were angry as all hell that he had hooked up with a dude out there, he was ready to see them again. He was ready to answer all of their questions. He was ready to hug them as many times as they wanted. He loved his family. 

   He just hoped that they would still love him. He had changed a lot since the last time they were all together, since they had last seen him. Would they approve of the person he had become or would they wish that he was still the way he used to be? And he hoped that they loved everyone that he brought back with him. What would he do if they didn’t? He was probably worrying too much, but if they didn’t approve of who he was now and of the people he called his friends and the person he was in love with… he desperately hoped that that wouldn’t be the case.

   But if it was, what was he going to do?

 

*

 

   He had been right. The next few days  _ had _ been long. Though the Voltron group had to take a break that next day to fulfill their promise of doing that interview with those officials and filing reports and all of that junk, the time after that had been insane in the best way. They had been an endless stream of familiar faces, of hugs and kisses and screams of joy, of all the best food his family had to offer, of photo after photo after photo, of pure happiness. And, somehow or another, nobody complained about his friends or his boyfriend. There had been a few sideways glances, perhaps, but after all that time of being apart, nobody had the guts to say anything negative about them in front of Lance. 

   Lance’s older sister had been one of the most eager when it came to Lotor. She had come into the house loud and proud like she always did, but there was something different about her. There was a ring on her finger and her stomach was rounder than it used to be. She wouldn’t talk about herself until she had gotten the details of Lance’s adventure and his friends and his boyfriend.  _ Especially _ his boyfriend. It was  _ hours _ before she talked about her own life. She was still with the same boy she had been with for a year or so before Lance went missing, now married to him and planning for a little one. Lance was thrilled, of course, hearing that he was going to be an uncle. 

   His own aunts, uncles, and cousins were also doing well, though none of them could claim marriage and a baby. His grandparents were living the same old way they always had, taking walks to the beach in the morning and the evening, spending the day in between those times reading or sewing or doing any of their other hobbies. The family had naturally been shocked when Lance disappeared, praying for his return but slowly losing hope over time. They began to think others were right when they said that Lance was probably dead. And then he had showed up back home and the word had spread among their blood like wildfire, the message of  _ Lance is alive! He’s home and alive and safe!  _ screaming its own way through the family. For about a week and a half, Lance’s mother was all too happy to make room in the house for her son and the seven people he brought home with him. Life was  _ good _ .

   But it couldn’t stay like that. Lance had to sneak down the hall one night to where his mother sat in the living room with a cup of tea and a book, had to sit down next to her, and had to tell her the truth. The way she was sitting reminded him of that statue he had found in Lotor’s castle, but he didn't have the  _ time  _ to worry about that. 

   He had to tell her about what was going to happen next. He didn’t intend on staying on Earth for much longer. The others had already made plans to go and visit their families, and though Lance would have liked to go with them and see all of their homes, he just… couldn’t. There was no telling how long that would take. All  _ eight _ of them going around the world together was insane. Plus, there was more at work than just the humans’ desire to reunite with their loved ones. They had already taken  _ so much time _ visiting Lance’s family because there were so fucking many of them. They couldn’t keep on like that. 

   There was work to do out there in the universe. Lance’s mother sighed sadly and nodded, saying only, “I understand.”

   She did understand. She understood completely. Lance had made promises and he was too good of a kid to go back on his word. She didn’t understand exactly what was happening out in the grand scheme of the universe; she knew nothing but Earth, didn’t know the war that raged outside of the peaceful solar system she was born in. She hadn’t seen what was out there, not like her son had. But she understood that her son, strong and brave and wonderful, was making peace become a reality instead of a dream wherever he and his friends went. Her son, a warrior of peace. Her son, a hero.

   She made him swear that he would visit regularly, which he had no problems agreeing to. He said he had planned to do that anyways. She had kept his room exactly the way he left it with the hope that he would come back to her, and though he would have to take a  _ few _ thingsーlike a bunch of his clothes, considering he had been wearing the same Earth outfit for as long as he had been goneーhe promised he would leave most of it the same just like she had done for him. He would come home again. He wouldn’t stay lost. He’d be home again. She pulled him in for a hug, tears in her eyes, and held him tight. 

   “We’ll always be here for you. We’ll wait for you. Your sister will have her baby one of these days and you'll have to come home and be an uncle. And you're coming home for your wedding, okay? Don't bother telling me again that you aren't engaged. He  _ wants _ to marry you, you know.”

   Lance smiled. He was returning the hug, surrounding himself in the warmth and comfort of his mother’s arms. He had missed this. “I know he does. He's a handful.”

   “But he's your handful.”

   “Yeah. I guess so.” He chuckled. “If he proposes, I'll make sure to convince him to have the wedding here on Earth. I'm sure he won't mind. Although, I don't think he could  _ pay  _ for a wedding here. Different currency and all.”

   “Don't worry about that. The family would pitch in, every last one of us.”

   “Mom?”

   “Hm?”

   “Thank you. For everything. I don't think I've ever properly thanked you for everything you've done for me. I love you.”

   She pressed a kiss to the side of his head. “I love you. And I'm so, so proud of you. I'm blessed to have you as my son.”

   They sat together on the couch for awhile. Lance wasn't sure how long it would be before he came home again, so he had to soak up as much of that motherly love as he could before he left. 

   Leaving Earth was  _ awful.  _ The whole family showed up to see him off the day after his talk with his mom, each one of them giving him a long hug and well wishes. He hated to do it, to leave them again so soon, but he reminded himself that there was more at stake than just his and his family’s disappointment at him leaving. Lotor had organized some things before they left, making sure that the work at least got started while everyone was away, but it was time to really make sure that it was all working out the way it was supposed to. There was no telling if the people Lotor had entrusted the task to were actually doing their job the way they were supposed to. 

   Lance wasn't the only one to get hugs. The look on Lotor’s face when Lance’s mother wrapped her arms around him was  _ priceless.  _ Then came Lance’s older sister, who, after her hug, announced that if she ever heard  _ anything  _ about Lotor hurting her baby brother, she'd find a way out to space and beat him up herself, pregnant or not. The fire in her eyes made him nod, promising that no harm would come to the boy. And then the little onesーa bit bigger than they had been the last time Lance saw them, but still littleーcame surging forward, pulling on the loose fabric of Lotor’s clothing and begging him to come back and tell them more space stories. Lotor said that he would, though there was a look in his eyes like he was actually terrified by the loud, miniature humans that were surrounding him. 

   The trip back to Lotor’s castle wasn't as quiet as Lance had thought it would be. He had expected Lotor to flop down in a chair and fall asleep, being worn out from dealing with  _ so many _ people for all those days. Instead, he sat down and pulled Lance into his lap, smiled, and said, “You have a lovely family.”

   Lance nodded. “Yeah. I told you they'd give you a chance. My mom really liked you.”

   “For which I am incredibly grateful. Although, I'm not sure what to make of the children. They were a little  _ too _ excited to have an alien in the house.”

   “Every Earth kid is excited about aliens,” Lance said. “That's just the way it is. Humans have always wondered about other life in the universe. We’re very curious about, well, everything.”

   “So I've noticed. Otherwise none of this would have happened.”

   “What do you mean?”

   “If you hadn't been curious, you wouldn't have gone roaming the castle in the middle of the night. We wouldn't have had that nice talk. I don't think I would have ever had the courage to tell you how I feel about you otherwise.”

   “I doubt that,” Lance replied. “I mean, you were just able to blurt it out when we were at the hot springs. I don't see why you wouldn't have been able to any other time.”

   Lotor shrugged and Lance was once again jealous by how elegant everything the Emperor did was. “I suppose there is not much use in wondering about  _ what if _ . What is done is done. And you are mine.”

   Lance smiled and kissed Lotor’s cheek. “Yeah,” he said, “I’m yours.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ngl there's gonna be some angst in the next chapter sooooo,, giving y'all a fair warning so you have time to prepare  
> also gomen that the family chapter isn't as long as it could have been but I gotta keep the plot rolling y'know what I mean


	17. Any Capacity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys go out for the day, but love isn't always as simple as it seems.  
> Especially not when one of you lives for thousands of years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ok this upload is pretty late compared to what I usually do so gomen

   Lance wasn't quite sure how he had ended up bent over the side of the bed with Lotor’s hand fisted in his hair, but hey, he wasn't complaining. He was  _ supposed _ to be getting dressed and ready for the day at the moment, but he wasn’t quite worried about that. Their plans for the day included visiting a nearby planet to flush out the last few rebels, the last few soldiers who still followed the code of conduct that Zarkon had set of them, and to make sure that their base was destroyed. They’d been getting information on rebels on various planets around the Empire and, while Lotor did occasionally have more formal meetings, he mostly left the business side of things to Allura and the rest of the Voltron group. He and Lance had been dealing with rebels ever since they first got started, squashing Zarkon’s influence everywhere it still survived.

   But apparently that could wait a little while. Lotor was more concerned with once again making sure that Lance had a good start to his day. It happened almost every single day, though it didn’t usually happen like  _ this _ . Mornings were generally sweeter, calmer, gentler. A slow, loving way to greet the day. So, how did it end up with the hair pulling and the inevitable bruises? Well, no matter. It was  _ awesome _ .

   It ended too soon, but really, how could he be expected to last very long?

   “What was that about?” Lance managed to ask after a couple minutes of being practically dead. He rolled himself over and sat up, looking at Lotor and yawning. He had hardly been awake when Lotor made his first move. Lotor had kept him up late that night, then pretty much jumped him after about five minutes of being awake. One minute he had been asleep, the next he had been waking up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, followed by a period that could be described as a bunch of question marks, and then they were just… going for it. “Are you trying to get me to sleep all fucking day instead of going rebel hunting with you?”

   Lotor grinned and walked over to the closet, opening it up and looking for some decent clothes. “I lied to you. I apologize for that, but I very much wanted to surprise you. There are no problems from that planet, at least not now. We don’t have any problems to deal with today. Gods, we’ve been working for… how long? A month or so?”

   “Yeah, I think so. I mean, I haven’t been keeping track of the time out here. It’s so much different from Earth time. I don’t know, but my mom expects us to visit again soon. Said to come back soon.” He couldn't help but yawn again. “But, so, what? You’re surprising me with a day in bed?”

   Lotor took a set of Lance’s clothes from the closet and held them out in front of him. “Are these okay?” Lance nodded and Lotor tossed them over, Lance catching them and at least pulling on a shirt before he went hunting for his fucking underwear. Lotor continued looking for clothes of his own, then said, “As tempting as that is, that is not today’s plan. I would be more than happy to do that another day, though. Today we’re going out on a nice date.”

   “You seem to be more concerned about our romance than doing your Emperor work.”

   “We’ve spent the last month working nearly nonstop. I suppose you haven’t been keeping track of how many times we’ve had to sneak some time together, what with all the  _ meetings _ and the  _ fighting _ and the  _ traveling _ . If you would rather plan out our next bout of work, I… suppose that could be done.”

   “Don’t be stupid,” Lance said. He had found his underwear and was now pulling on his pants. “Of course I want to go out. I had just thought we were, I dunno, working. Like we agreed to do when we all signed the treaty.”

   “The treaty remains intact regardless of if we take a day off for  _ us _ or not.”

   “A day for  _ us _ , huh?”

   Lotor sighed. It sounded sad to Lance’s ears. “Of course. Solid relationships require lots of love and attention, do they not? I want to keep our relationship strong. That’s not to say that I think we would ever have a falling out, you understand, it’s just that I want for us to take some time to be together away from the business of the Empire. We haven’t been on a date in far too long.”

   Lance couldn’t help but smile. “Fair enough. Where are you taking me? I know you probably have something crazy planned. You always do.”

   “Come, now. I can’t give away all of my secrets. We’re going to eat breakfast and then we’ll head out. I promise it will be  _ very _ romantic.”

   “It better be,” Lance said. “Don’t let this be the first time you disappoint me.”

   Lotor had finished getting dressed. He closed the closet door and walked over to Lance, cupped his face, and leaned down for a kiss. “I won’t let it be. I love you too much for that.”

   They went to breakfast as they always did, eating a lavish meal of the type that Lance  _ still _ was not used to. He had grown up surrounded by other kids, all yelling at the table and reaching for food and fighting over the last biscuit. That was how it went. Having a huge meal laid out in front of him, not having to worry about fighting for his own share, not feeling like he had to guard his plate with his  _ life _ , was incredibly weird. Living alone with Lotor was the first time he had ever ate a meal with only one other person; he had grown up with all of those people in the house, then he had to eat in the cafeteria at the Garrison, then he had to eat with everyone in the Castle… and now he was sitting at a long, empty table with only his boyfriend to keep him company as he ate.

   God, only children were  _ so _ lucky. It turned out that a long and empty table wasn’t nearly as lonely as he had thought it might be, not as long as he had at least one person there that he cared about. One person that he cared about and that would not try to steal the food straight off of his plate. A person who would gladly sit back and let Lance take whatever he wanted and not fight him for it. 

   But something was different. Lotor wasn’t acting like himself. He still held open doors for Lance, still pulled out his chair for him, still spoke gently and kissed him softly, still repeated  _ I love you _ a million more times in a row than he really needed to. That hadn’t changed. What had changed was the fact that he seemed more distant, like he was caught up in thoughts that he was unwilling to share. Lotor stared at the table and ate absentmindedly, seemingly oblivious to what was happening around him. Lance had to say his name three times to get his attention just to ask what he was thinking about.

   Lotor just shook his head and smiled in a way that was meant to be reassuring but fell short. “Don’t worry about me, love. I’m fine, I promise. I have a general idea of what we’ll do today, but there are still a lot of blank spaces. I’ve been wondering what we could do to fill them.”

   Lance nodded like he believed it. Like he didn’t know that it was total bullshit. Lotor’s mood had changed so suddenly. He had been  _ himself _ that morning, though a bit rougher than he usually was at that time of day, all flirty and mischievous and loving, and now he seemed like he was barely there. He hadn’t shown himself to be the type of person who bottled everything until he exploded, so why was he doing that now? Sure, he had held the secret of his father’s death and his favorite servant’s loss of a tongue to himself for a good long while, but he had never acted like this before. 

   He always admitted his feelings. God, he had blurted out that he was in love with Lance at what had possibly been the  _ most _ embarrassing time, what with all the nakedness and heat. And he had shown a different side of him the first time they slept together. There was that rough side that he liked to showcase, the side of him that left Lance utterly breathless and in a bit of a daze, but there was also a soft side nobody else got to see. Not the way Lance got to see it. Lance knew the gentle touch of his hands, the vulnerability in his eyes, the caring tone he never used with anyone else, and the barely noticeable but impossible to ignore smile always plastered across his face when they were alone. Lotor was more than what he showed the universe. And Lotor was not the kind of person to hide important things from those he loved, not if all of the time Lance had spent with him was any indicator. 

   Lance was reminded of that sad-sounding sigh Lotor had let loose in their room. 

   Something was wrong.

 

*

 

   “I know it isn’t exactly the ocean you’re used to, but I thought you might like it here,” Lotor said. He had been holding his hands over Lance’s eyes to keep him from peeking, now taking them away to let him see. In front of them stretched a beach of light blue sand and, beyond that, a deep green sea. “I have spent my life travelling the universe. It isn’t unusual for me to see oceans of different colors. I’ve been very eager to see your reaction to one so different from your own.”

   “It’s not gonna poison me, is it?” Lance asked as they walked, sand clinging to his shoes.

   “If it does, I will summon the Guardian of the Waters and challenge him to a fight to the death.”

   “The Guardian of the Waters? The hell is that?”

   “You told me once that some cultures on Earth believe in several gods as opposed to one singular God, yes? I suppose my people are more like the former.” He took a deep breath, breathing in the scent of the ocean. “Though our  _ gods _ are more like guardian spirits. I have, of course, been referring to them as  _ gods _ since we met for ease of convenience as I figured you did not share the same belief system. They don’t have divine powers to strike down those who disobey them. They just make sure that everything keeps functioning to the best of its ability.”

   Lotor had brought them to a rocky outcropping. He held Lance’s hand as he climbed up, then followed him. They sat together on the edge, dangling their feet over the sea that was obviously some kind of liquid they didn’t have on Earth. “I found a room in the castle once,” Lance said. “Had a bunch of statues in it. Were those… Guardians?”

   “Yes. It is customary for high-ranking individuals to have full-scale statues of the Guardians we most need the help of. The common folk do something similar, though they have miniatures displayed on shelves.” He shrugged. “They can’t afford large statues, you understand.”

   Lance nodded, then continued with his point. “One of them reminded me of my mother.”

   Lotor made a sound of… shock? Surprise? Lance had never heard him make that noise before. He then exclaimed, “I  _ knew _ your mother reminded me of someone!”

   “Uh, what?”

   “Family, Lance. Your mother looks like the Guardian of the Blood. The family, in other words.” He smiled widely, the points of his canines on full display in a way they usually weren’t. “We truly were meant to be together, you know that? I always loved that statue. I had it commissioned when I was younger, back when I thought there was still a chance of my father and I salvaging our relationship. Before I murdered him, as you can imagine. I needed her help. I learned that, though she is Guardian of the Blood, she does not preside over blood relation, but over the blood of the… what’s that saying of your people? Ah, yes, the blood of the covenant. I realized that I was not, in fact, an awful person for disliking my father. The Guardian of the Blood wishes for everyone to  _ make _ their bonds, not to swallow the ones forced upon them. She is kind. Like your mother.” His wide smile softened considerably as he looked Lance in the eyes. “It would seem that I was connected to your family long before I met you.”

   “If Pidge was here, she’d say that the universe is gay, but since she isn’t here, I guess I’ll have to do it for her.”

   Seeing Lotor laugh was like an enormous weight had been lifted from Lance’s chest. Their day had been a rollercoaster so far, what with the way it began and all of the ups and downs until now. But Lance couldn’t stop wondering what had been bothering Lotor earlier. He may have been himself there, in that moment, but he hadn’t been himself all day. It wasn’t right, the way he kept flipping back and forth between regular Lotor and, frankly, emo Lotor. Being emo was Keith’s thing. He didn’t like seeing Keith’s thing on his boyfriend. It was  _ super _ fucked up.

   The waves of the ocean crashed against the rocks, sending a spray of green whatever-the-fuck up onto Lance’s shoes and ankles, washing away the clinging sand. The liquid didn’t burn, so he was going to assume that it wasn’t acidic to humans. That was good to know. 

   Lotor regained control of himself and said, “Your people are truly something else. I can’t comprehend having so many labels to describe who we love. We just  _ love _ , no thinking involved.”

   “You know how humans are,” Lance replied. “We worry. And, believe it or not, having all of those labels sometimes helps. We’ve always wondered what the meaning of life is and we’ve always struggled to understand ourselves. Having words to describe at least that part of us is surprisingly helpful. Makes us feel like we’re more in control.”

   “You aren’t though, are you?”

   “ _ Hell _ no. That’s why I said it makes us  _ feel _ that way.”

   Lotor laughed again. “That’s cute.”

   “You have a really strange definition of what’s  _ cute _ .”

   “So do  _ you _ . And a strange definition of what’s  _ ugly.  _ I thought turtles were quite cute, actually. You all made them sound like demons.”

   “Now, I never meant to say they were  _ awful _ , just that some of them need some serious moisturizer. And some of them look like your dad. That’s all.”

   “Well, it’s a damn good thing that I didn’t take after him, isn’t it?”

   “Absolutely.”

   They were silent then for a while, staring out over the ocean. They didn’t always need to be talking. They just needed to be together. Lotor had wrapped his arm around Lance, pulled him in close, and they were still sitting like that when Lance finally snapped.

   The silence had let his mind wander back to why Lotor had been acting so weird all day. That was why he so suddenly he asked, “What’s wrong with you today? And be  _ honest.  _ Maybe you’ve been trying to spare my feelings, but I know for a fuckin’ fact that you were lying to me when you said you were thinking about things we could do. You didn’t hesitate today. If there really had been so many blank spaces in the schedule, you would have at least paused to evaluate your options. But you didn’t. We fucked around in the city and then you put me in a carriage and brought me all the way out here and half of the time you were  _ yourself _ and then the other half you were someone  _ else _ and… God, I know there’s something wrong, okay? So just tell me that it is. I’m gonna go insane if you don’t.”

   The hand resting on Lance’s shoulder slowly balled into a fist, grabbing up some of the fabric of Lance’s shirt as it did so. “I suppose I’m not a very good liar, am I?”

   “Not to me. Maybe someone else would fall for it. Not me.”

   Lotor let out another sad sigh. “I realized something when we were headed for Earth. It really struck me then how short your life will be. I hadn’t thought about it before since most of my people are destined to be with another of our species. I was always sure that, no matter what happened, whoever I was meant to be with would  _ always _ be with me. I don’t have  _ always _ with you. Though it may seem far away to you, it is not so for me. You will die soon. And I’ve been wasting the time we have together by running around the galaxies and punishing powerless rebels instead of spending it with you.” His voice wavered. His breath became shaky. “I want… no, that’s not right. I  _ need _ to make the most of the time we have. I haven’t been doing that. And even if I do manage to make the most of what we have left, there will still come a day where I wake up and wonder why you aren’t in bed next to me until I remember that you’re  _ gone _ and you won’t be there to share a bed with me ever again. What am I supposed to do then?”

   Lance didn’t have an answer. 

   “Perhaps I will follow you when you are gone,” Lotor said quietly. “I would much rather end my own life than to continue to live it when there will be no more love in it.”

   Lance did have an answer for that. “Are you fucking  _ serious _ ?” he snapped, speaking before thinking. “You think my mortality is some  _ Romeo and Juliet _ shit where one of us dies and the other commits suicide?  _ Fuck _ no. Maybe I’m being selfish and sentencing you to a lifetime of misery, but if you fucking kill yourself because I’m human and my dumb ass bit the dust, I will find you in the afterlife and fight you.” Despite the look of utter surprise and disbelief on Lotor’s face, Lance continued. “You don’t get to just  _ die _ because I did. You  _ live _ , you hear me? You live when I can’t. You go and see all of the things I never got to. Don’t you dare throw away all of your chances because humans don’t live as long as Galra do. Don’t you  _ fucking _ dare.” 

   Were there tears in his eyes? He felt like there might have been, but fuck if he could tell for sure. His whole body felt like it was on fire and not in the sexy way, for once. He continued. “I don’t know the secrets of the universe. I don’t know if there’s an afterlife or if we get reincarnated or what, but you know what I do know? If our souls continue in any capacity after the death of the bodies we’re in, my soul isn’t going to be happy that you did something stupid as all hell just because it was my time to go. Don’t you dare. Don’t you  _ dare _ . You and me? You’re right. We don’t get an  _ always _ . We get  _ now.  _ You think humans got this far by giving up whenever they lost someone? We’ve gotten this far by making the most of  _ now _ , remembering the past, and working for the future. So you finish living, you hear me? You  _ finish living _ and meet me on the other side when it’s your damn time, not a second before.”

   Lotor had been effectively stunned into silence until he managed to say, “I…”

   Lance cut him off. “Promise me. Promise me you’ll keep living.”

   “Lance…”

   “ _P_ _ romise me. _ ”

   Lotor sighed heavily. “You are a cruel one, you know that? Horribly, horribly cruel.”

   “Lotor.”

   “I know, I know. You’re saying all of this because you think that continuing to live is what’s best for me. But you must realize that in my quest to make the most of  _ now _ , I will not give you a moment’s peace. I will always be near you. If you visit Earth, I will follow you. If you go to be with your Voltron group, I will follow you there, too. When you are gone, you will not be forgotten. I will erect monuments in your honor. There will never be a day where I do not think of you. You will never be forgotten, you understand?”

   “If erecting monuments means that you’ll be okay with continuing to live, absolutely.”

   “Then… I promise. I’m sorry to have upset you. I just don’t want to lose you.”

   “And you won’t for at least another sixty years. At  _ least _ . It’ll be okay.”

   “In that case, marry me.”

   “What?”

   “I apologize for not doing this part the right way. I have no ring to offer you at the moment, nor do I have any kind of romantic speech planned,” Lotor said, looking over at Lance next to him and smiling. “But I did, at least, get your mother’s permission to ask you to marry me. I want us to be  _ together _ for as long as we possibly can be. I am legitimately proposing to you this time.”

   Now it was Lance’s turn to be stunned silent. There was no falsehood in Lotor’s eyes; he meant everything he said. He would live for Lance after his death, but before then, he genuinely wanted to  _ marry _ him. Lance had known that Lotor wanted to marry him, of course, but actually being proposed to felt way different than he had thought it would. He had figured he’d feel like,  _ oh, great, I’ve been waiting for this for a good while now, so I’m glad this is finally here so I can say yes and we’ll do it.  _ But he didn’t feel like that at all.

   He felt like a long string of italicized, bolded, underlined exclamation points. Like everything was different somehow, like something sparked deep within the earth and, by extension, in him. 

   Slight nervousness crept into Lotor’s eyes as Lance sat dumbfounded. He quickly said, “I know this is sudden. I wasn’t actually intending on asking you this  _ now _ . I keep doing that, don’t I? Telling you things before I mean to.” He took a deep breath and forced himself to focus. “Lance, will you marry me?”

   Lance barely managed to gather his wits enough to nod and say, “Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'VE GOT GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS  
> Bad news: I think chapter 18 might be the last chapter. It's kinda sudden I know and I hate to do that but it just feels right, y'know? Also, it might take be a little longer than Tuesday to get it posted. It might be a week until chapter 18, I don't know. But that's because of the ~good news~  
> Good news: It's gonna be a pretty long chapter. Most of the chapters so far have been about ~2000 words, with a few outliers like, idk, the smut chapter, and in general the size of each chapter is about the same. But since I'm planning on chapter 18 being the last chapter, that means it's gonna be longer than usual and that's why it might take longer to get it finished and posted!   
> At least, that's the plan. Please let me if you prefer waiting a while for a longer last chapter or sticking to the regular schedule and splitting the longer last chapter into two! I don't wanna make decisions for anyone, especially considering how loyal and wonderful you guys have been for TWO MONTHS! As of next Thursday (the 29th, the day before I'd probably get the long version of chapter 18 posted), I'll have been posting this fic for two months and it's honestly been such a rewarding experience. Thank you for sticking with me, and please don't be shy about telling me what you'd prefer to see for this final stretch! <3


	18. Home Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Telling people about the engagement was more difficult than he had anticipated. Planning for a wedding was even worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Asjgdhk okay I know the plan was to skip this Tuesday's upload and just post a massive chapter on Friday but,,, not having an upload on Tuesday felt too weird after all this time so. Here are are. Oops.

   They stayed overnight at a beachside hotel. Lotor had fully intended to pay for their stay, but the hotel owner  _ insisted _ that a free night in the best room available was the  _ least _ he could do for their beloved Emperor, one so kind and fair and peaceful. One who had almost always been doing his best to clean up the mess that was left to him. Everyone owed him their thanks, the owner said as he led the pair upstairs and to a room that looked too nice to be in a hotel. 

   The owner bowed several times and promised the best of room service. Lotor thanked him, saying he truly appreciated it and that they would call if they needed anything. The owner disappeared quickly, wishing the pair a good night as he walked away. Walked away  _ backwards  _ to keep throwing flatteries at Lotor until he was out of sight. 

   “You know I don't have any pajamas with me,” Lance said, flopping down onto the bed when they finally got away from that owner and into the room. “It wouldn't have been the end of the world to take the carriage back to the castle.”

   “I know,” Lotor said as he walked over to the window and opened it. They had a full view of the ocean from there. “I only thought you might enjoy staying the night close to the sea.”

   Lance might have blushed a little. Might have. He liked to think that he was used to Lotor fawning over him and fulfilling his every wish, but he really wasn't. He smiled and said, “That does sound pretty good. But you still should've told me ahead of time so I could've brought extra clothes.”

   “Oh, hush,” Lotor said. He joined Lance on the bed, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him close. “Wearing the same thing tomorrow that you wore today isn't going to hurt you. As for pajamas… I seem to remember several times in which you and I have both fallen asleep wearing absolutely nothing.”

   Lance gave Lotor a little joking shove. “Shut up,” he said with a laugh. “That's not the point and you know it.”

   “I adore you.”

   “I know. I love you, too. There's just one little thing we have to talk about, though.”

   “What's that?”

   “My mom insists that we get married on Earth. She told me that when we were there.”

   Lotor sighed in mock exasperation. “Oh,  _ fine _ . I suppose that can be arranged. Where on Earth are we going to get married?”

   “The beach, obviously. Who do you think I am? I dunno about the honeymoon, though.”

   “The… what?”

   “You guys don't have honeymoons?”

   “Evidently not.”

   Lance paused as he tried to figure out how to explain it. “It's a kind of vacation, I guess,” he decided on. “After getting married, the couple goes on a little trip together to celebrate.”

   Lotor raised an eyebrow. “That's it?”

   “Well,” Lance said, “I mean, there's also generally a good bit of sex. Y’know. To make everything nice and official.”

   If Lotor had been an animal, his ears would've perked right up. “I'm listening.”

   Lance shook his head and said, “You're ridiculous.”

   “What, and you aren't? Humans are absurd.”

   “I am not going to fight with you about which of us is weirder.”

   “Then what  _ do _ you want to do?” Lotor asked. “You're right, I should have warned you that I was going to be keeping you overnight somewhere. You might've been able to bring something to keep us entertained.”

   Lance weaseled out of Lotor’s arms so he could take his shoes off. “I wonder,” he mused. “What could we  _ possibly _ to do keep ourselves busy until we’re ready to sleep? I'm sure  _ you _ have an idea or two that you just haven’t told me about.”

   Lotor gave a shitty smirk and said, “Darling, I  _ always _ have an idea.”

   “Of course you do.” He tossed his shoes a little way away from the bed and slipped off his jacket. 

   “Perhaps I'll take one of the sheets,” Lotor said, “and use it to tie you up. Perhaps I'll drag it out as long as I can, repeatedly bringing you to the edge and not letting you fall. Or, perhaps, if you prefer, I could let you fall  _ over _ and  _ over _ and  _ over _ again until you  _ beg _ for it to stop. I would certainly enjoy either one, of course, but what about you?”

   Suddenly Lance wasn't so sure that he had the sixty years to live that he had promised. He was going to die an early death at this rate. Lotor was going to kill him. 

   Well, getting fucked to death didn’t sound so bad.

 

*

 

   Lotor sighed. “Are you sure about this?” he asked, nervousness slowly taking over his face as they approached the Castle of the Lions. Lance had, in the end, been allowed to keep Blue with him at Lotor’s placeーthough Lotor wasn’t sure that  _ allowed _ was quite the right word; he highly doubted Lance would have let them keep him separated from her even if they had wanted toーand they were now flying towards the Castle where everyone was waiting for them. 

   It had been roughly a week, Lance estimated, since Lotor had proposed. Since he had said he wanted to die after Lance did, but he was trying  _ very _ hard to forget about that. Lotor had promised he would do his best to stay alive and functioning like a regular person after Lance was gone, and what choice did he have but to trust him? It wasn’t like he could keep him in check after he was dead. He could, however, keep Lotor in check as long as they were together. Which would be, ideally, for a long time, especially considering Lance was engaged to him. Lotor had gotten a ring for Lance since then, one with a blue stone in a silver and diamond setting, absurdly expensive and way too fancy for a human boy from Earth. “For the millionth time,” Lance replied, “it’s going to be  _ fine _ . They’re gonna be happy for us, I promise. We just visit the Castle, we tell them that we got engaged, we hang out with them for awhile, and then we head to Earth to talk to my family. It’s not a big deal.”

   “It is for me,” Lotor said. He crossed his arms in front of him and took a deep breath. “I know that I’ve gotten along with your friends. I know that your family, at least some of them, approve of me. Unfortunately, I am still an outsider. I can do my best to fit in, and I may have gained their approval, but I have sort of forced my way into those groups by latching onto you and not letting go.”

   Lance waved a dismissing hand. “Stop thinking that way. I know, I know, I’m one to talk, right? Freakin’ out all the time over some dumb shit. But you  _ really _ don’t need to be so concerned.” He smiled at his  _ fiancée.  _ “They love you and they’ll all be thrilled, alright?”

   “I do hope you’re right.”

   “Of course I’m right. You’re being ridiculous. I understand humans better than you do. There’s only two aliens on team Voltron. Well, two and a half if you count Keith. Three and a half if you count yourself. Three and three quarters if you count Shiro’s arm. That means there’s still four and one quarter worth of humans, I think.” Lotor chuckled, a relaxed and happy sound that said he understood what Lance was saying. “I can handle at least four-point-twenty-five of the people on the Castle. Wait, no. Three-point-twenty-five. I shouldn’t count myself.”

   “Love, now you’re the one being ridiculous,” Lotor said. “I understand what you mean.”

   “Good. Now stop freakin’ out on me.”

   “I cannot make any promises.” 

   Lance rolled his eyes. 

   The Castle grew large as they approached, huge by the time they pulled up beside it. It accepted Blue’s entry, and soon enough, she was sitting with the others once again as Lance and Lotor met Shiro. 

   “Hey,” Shiro said as they exited Blue. “Everyone's gathered on the bridge. They haven't stopped freaking out since you called, trying to figure out what you want to talk about. It  _ would _ be funny if it was in moderation, but…” He sighed. “These kids, I swear.”

   Lance snorted. “What are you, a dad?”

   Shiro scoffed and shook his head. “God, I hope not. Coran’s been trying to be more fatherly lately, actually. He's really trying. It's not working out too well.”

   “He's still too much of an uncle, isn't he?” Lance asked. 

   “Definitely.” Shiro walked a little ways in front of them and opened the door to the bridge when they came to it. 

   Everyone was there to greet them. Lance was hugged several times as he made his way to his chair. It hadn't been very long since he had last been there, not really, but it felt strange to be sitting in that seat again. He had gotten used to soft, soft chairs in Lotor’s castle, to the seats of the carriages Lotor had to take them everywhere. He had never  _ stopped _ being used to Blue’s pilot’s seat, of course, but having her for travel and the occasional small battle was far different from having her for war and forming Voltron on a moment’s notice.

   A lot had changed in not a lot of time. War, treaty negotiations, love, signing the treaty and ending the war, Earth, family, proposal… Lance took a deep breath. There was a drink pack waiting for him, one for Lotor too. Lotor did as he usually did, standing behind the chair Lance sat in and leaning over to rest his chin on Lance’s head. Lotor kept shifting his weight from one leg to another in apprehension. 

   “So,” Shiro said, sitting down in his seat and angling it towards Lance. “What's going on?”

   “Well,” Lance said, “I'm gonna need you all to promise me that you won't lose your shit in a bad way before I say anything, okay?” There was a murmur of agreement in the room, lots of nodding and promises. Lance was vaguely aware of Lotor shifting again. “Alright, well, we went out a few days ago. Had a nice time, y’know, talked about some fun stuff. And some not so fun stuff, but we worked all that out. Anyways. Well. The thing is, uh, well.”

   Hunk leaned forward. “You okay?”

   Lance nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I am. I just thought this would feel easier. I didn't expect to be so nervous.” He sighed. “I'm okay. It's actually really good news, actually. The thing is, see, while we were talking, we kind of… got engaged. We’re gonna get married.”

   “Holy shit,” Pidge said softly. 

   Lance really couldn't argue with that. He chuckled and said, “Yeah,  _ holy shit _ . That's exactly how I felt. We wanted to come talk to you guys about it before we head back to Earth for a while to see my family. I don't think Earth is going to legally recognize our marriage, but we’re gonna have the ceremony there, at least. My mom insisted when we were there. Told me that whenever we got engaged we had to get married on Earth. And yes, you're all invited.”

   “You didn't tell me we were coming here to invite them to our wedding,” Lotor muttered. “I thought we were just going to tell them and send out invitations later.”

   “Oh, hush. It's fine.”

   Allura broke out into a huge smile, the kind that sort of reminded Lance of his sister. Before he knew it, she was across the room and hugging him. “Congratulations,” she said affectionately, like she was seeing someone precious to her finding happiness. Lance hadn't ever thought that she thought of him as  _ precious  _ to her; they were good friends, sure, but most of the time she seemed roughly one thousand percent  _ done _ with his bullshit. 

   Not that he could blame her. He was pretty done with his own bullshit, too. 

   “Woah, hey, what's this about?” He asked, hugging her back. “A couple months ago you wanted Lotor dead.”

   “That was a couple of months ago,” she said, pulling away and grabbing his hands to squeeze. “My own prejudice against the Galra hasn't entirely disappeared, though I have been trying to get better. I decided some time ago that, when it comes to him, at least, I will trust the judgement of your heart. Your heart trusts and loves him. I will believe in that. I will believe in him and in your relationship and its future. I am truly happy for you.”

   Pidge glanced over at Keith, giving him a stern look. There had been tension building in his muscles, his whole body tensing as the conversation continued. The fire in her eyes made the tension drain away, the fight leaving him as he saw things as they were: Lance was happy. Lance was ready to face his future and he was facing it with someone at his side. If he could have gotten away with it, he probably would have asked Pidge to slap him to keep his head straight. 

   Instead of doing that, he swallowed his pride and smiled. He smiled and said, “Hey. Have you thought about, uh, who’s gonna be  _ in _ the wedding?”

   Lance shrugged. “Not really? I mean, it hasn't come up yet. It's not like we’re getting married  _ tomorrow.  _ My family wants to be involved in roughly  _ everything _ , and God knows how long it'll take to explain to them that I'm getting married and then how long it'll take for them to all get on the same page about planning.” He shook his head like he was sure everything was going to be a huge fucking mess. “It'll be awhile. Why? Do  _ you _ want to be in it?”

   Keith froze for a brief second, barely noticeable but somehow still glaringly obvious. “I mean, not particularly, but I wouldn't say no if you asked me to.”

   “What does he mean?” Lotor asked. “ _ In _ the wedding? You and I are the ones getting married. He isn’t involved.”

   “He means, like, the groomsmen and the bridesmaids and stuff. Not that we’re, y’know, gonna  _ have _ any fucking bridesmaids.”

   Pidge grinned and said, “I dunno, I think you’d make a pretty bride if we found the right dress.”

   Lance extended his middle finger for a moment. “Fuck you. I’m wearing a tux to my wedding, fuckface.”

   “A white one, of course,” she said, “since you’re the  _ bride. _ ”

   Lotor’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What’s the  _ bride _ ? What are you people saying?”

   “In marriages with a man and a woman, the bride is the girl,” Hunk chimed in. “The man is the groom. But since you guys are both dudes, there’s no bride. Just a couple of grooms. And, since nobody has explained this, the bridesmaids are typically the best friends of the bride. They stand up by the bride for, like, emotional support, I guess? I dunno why they’re actually a thing, but… Same with the groomsmen. But with dudes.”

   “Thank you,” Lotor said pointedly, apparently irritated with the others for all the teasing instead of explaining Earth customs to him. “So each party has a group of friends close behind them during the ceremony?”

   Hunk nodded. “Yeah. I’m not sure about how many  _ friends _ you have, but you could both have a group. The groups are usually about four apiece, I think? I haven’t been to many weddings. Everyone I’m related to was married before I was born. Haven’t really known many folks who got married after I met them, either.”

   While Hunk was explaining marriages to Lotor, there was another conversation happening. It involved a lot of, “I am  _ not _ a fucking bride,” and, “Aw, come on! You could totally pull off a wedding dress!” and, “Guys, holy shit. I just wanted to know who in the family was gonna be involved.”

   Shiro, Allura, and Coran all stood off to the side, watching with confusion and amusement as Lotor learned about humans from Hunk and the other three bickered about brides and the others who would be in the ceremony. Their group was a mess. If the past paladins of Voltron could see what the group had become, Allura was willing to bet that they would wonder where things went wrong. One of them was engaged to the son of their greatest enemy, that son of their greatest enemy was being told about one of the most sacred rituals of human kind, the one who was engaged was currently defending his manhood against a small small girl with glasses, and the small girl with glasses was  _ insisting _ that it wasn’t an attack on his manhood and that she was just stating facts. 

   In all fairness, Lance would look good in a dress.

 

*

 

   As a child, Lance had only ever seen his mother smiling. She was always smiling and laughing and doing everything she could to make sure that the lives of her children were the best they could be. And, for the most part, they were. Lance’s childhood had been overwhelmingly happy. His mother had always woken them up loudly yet kindly, announcing each morning that it was time to get up and face another spectacular day. She had always had breakfast already on the table for them, a wonderful meal always made for the children she loved so much. She was only ever angry when someone messed with the children, when someone at school was mean to them. She and her husband always did their best to include something fun for the children in their monthly budget, like a movie or a trip to the aquarium or something else of the sort. 

   Lance’s childhood was happy. His home life had always been happy, even if people in the outside world weren’t always good to him. 

   That was why, when Lance’s mother started to cry when Lance sat down next to her and said that Lotor had officially proposed to him, he opened his eyes wide and wondered if something was wrong. “Mom?” he asked. “A-Are you okay?”

   She smiled and laughed even as tears rolled down her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I haven’t really cried in front of you before, have I? They’re happy tears, I promise. I’ve never wanted anything more than for you to be happy, you know that.” She sniffled and pulled him in for a hug. “I love you and I’m  _ so  _ happy for you. I told you he wanted to marry you.”

   “I never doubted that,” he said, hugging her back before pulling back to look at her. “And yes, I did get him to agree to getting married here.”

   “Thank God,” she said. “You sister has been depressed that you weren’t here for her wedding, so you’d better expect her to be there one-hundred percent for yours.”

   Lance sighed, heavily but happily. “Great. There’s gonna be a bunch of frills now, won’t there?”

   “Probably,” she admitted. “You know how she is. If she gets to be too much for you, let me know and I’ll sit her down and talk to her. I’ll keep her in line for you.”

   He chuckled. “Thanks. I appreciate it. You never let me down.”

   It was true. His mother never did let him down, not once. She had always followed through on all of her promises, had always helped the kids with homework and the struggles of growing up and facing the world as they got older. He wasn’t sure how she had managed it for so long, raising the kids so well. A lot of people Lance’s age had fallen out with their parents as they had grown up, but the idea of  _ falling out _ with her was absurd. She was unreal, the way she always,  _ always _ managed to take the best possible care of him and his siblings and the rest of the family. Speaking of the rest of the family… 

 

*

 

   … Lance couldn’t hold back his sigh this time. He’d been keeping them under wraps all day, avoiding making a fuss about everything in the three-inch thick wedding binder his sister had brought out. It had been a month since he had started telling the family about his engagement. They had jumped on it right away,  _ especially _ his sister, considering he hadn’t been around to help her plan her own wedding. She seemed to be getting bigger every single day, and yet she still had the energy and willpower to make endless phone calls and have endless conversations about the ceremony and the reception and the honeymoon andー

   “Sis, it’s not a big deal,” Lance groaned. “Lotor hardly understands weddings as it is. They don’t have them where he’s from. A simple ceremony is for the best, really. And besides, didn’t you spend enough money on your own wedding? I saw the photos.”

   She huffed in irritation. “Shut up,” she said. “I have a lot of friends in a lot of areas. I got  _ insane _ discounts on my wedding. I can totally hook you up.”

   He groaned again. “Seriously, it doesn’t have to be fucking insane. A few chairs and a little arch to stand under on the beach is all we need.”

   “You also need a wedding tent for the reception, tables, chairs, placemats, plates, catering, flowers for centerpieces, lighting… Lance, honey, trust me. Weddings are more complicated than you think. Also, a makeup artist for the photos. Don’t look at me like that! You think I’m aboutta let my baby brother get married and  _ not _ hire the best fuckin’ photographer I can find?”

   “We have another brother,” Lance pointed out.

   “Yeah, but he’s a lost cause. He’s straight as all hell, but have you  _ heard  _ the way he talks to girls? He’s never going to get married at this rate. I’m not gonna get my hopes up. Also, I like you more than I like him, so.”

   “Wow. I’m sure he’d be happy to hear that.”

   “Oh, I’ve tried to give him girl advice. I’ve tried really, really hard. He doesn’t fucking listen to me. He thinks somehow that a girl is just going to fall all over herself trying to make him happy when he doesn’t make an effort to make anyone else happy. He’s a dumbass, Lance.”

   “Well, yeah, but there’s always hope. I’ve seen worse people get married.”

   “I’ll believe it when I see it. But you’re actually getting married, like, right now, so I think I’m allowed to get excited.”

   “ _ Excited _ ? You’ve been obsessing over this since the second I told you.”

   “God knows  _ you _ won’t take care of it the right way.”

   “ _ Sis. _ ”

   “Trust me, alright? Seriously. It’s not like I’m trying to take over. I’m just trying to  _ help _ . I’ve been through the whole wedding ordeal. It’s a pain in the ass if you don’t know what you’re doing and I know for a fact that you have no idea where to start or where to go. I totally agree with the whole  _ simple _ thing. You’re right. Lotor doesn’t know the half of what we’re doing, even if everyone has spent a thousand years trying to explain it to him. But like I said. Weddings are more complicated than you think they are. I just want to help you work through all the confusion.”

   “I’m beginning to wonder if getting married is worth all of the trouble.” He tilted his head back and stared up at the ceiling. “I love him, I really do, but this all seems ridiculous. And his people don’t even  _ have _ marriage. They just… love. No thinking or lifelong vows required. I mean, what’s the point, y’know? It’s not like anyone here is gonna legally recognize it. We’re mostly going through the whole ceremony thing for shits and giggles.”

   She gave him a sympathetic look that he didn’t see. “I know, marriage is weird. Honestly, I wondered the same thing, minus the lack of legality. But then, when you’re actually walking down the aisle, you realize, holy shit. Maybe all the decorations and details are a bit unnecessary, but in that moment you really see the point of it. It doesn’t matter if Earth will legally recognize your weird-ass human-slash-alien marriage or not. The point is professing your love, officially  _ promising _ that you’ll always be there for each other, and sharing that love with the people close to you.” He looked back down at her, finally seeing the look on her face. “I know. After everything you’ve been through, Lance, I’m just trying to help make things as easy as possible. You’ve been through hell and back, you know. I won’t even try to act like I have any comprehension of what it’s like to be taken from your home and forced out into some bullshit intergalactic war, but I know it must have been hard on you since you’re such a family person. The least I can do is try to make this process run a little more smoothly. Y’know, since I actually  _ know _ what modern weddings are like. Mom would just… pull out pictures from, God, ugh, what decade even was that? It was hideous. Have you  _ seen _ the pictures of her dress?”

   “Pidge spent way too long trying to get me into a dress,” Lance said. “It was awful. She thinks I’d make a pretty bride.”

   “Well, I mean, you probably would.”

   “For fuck’s sake.”

   “I’m just saying, you’re actually really  _ pretty  _ for a boy.”

   “God, please kill me. Strike me down right fucking now.”

   She grinned and slid the binder across the table to him. “Take a look at this and tell me what you think, alright?”

   He picked up the binder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I guess chapter 19 will be the last chapter????? It'll be fine probably lmao I'm a disaster don't pay attention to me


	19. Never Forget

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lotor takes Lance out on their honeymoon.  
> There are talks to be had, for the future comes quicker than anyone thinks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honest to God I JUST fucking finished this chapter tbh this is the first time I haven't had a chapter finished BY the day I was supposed to post it,, whoops  
> But here we are. The last chapter, two months (and one day) after the first one was posted. I apologize if I left any loose ends; I've been winging it from day one tbh so I might have forgotten about some things,,,  
> I hope this is satisfactory~ <3

   “Thank fuck I’m only doing this once,” Lance said, nerves well and truly destroyed. “How do people get married more than once?”

   His mom shook her head. “Your guess is as good as mine. Once was more than enough for me.You know what, though? You’ve handled everything very well. I’m glad you didn’t pass out or anything.”

   He rolled his eyes. “Who do you take me for?” he asked as they danced. The ceremony was over, had been for a while now. It had been everything he could have asked for and more, except maybe for the obvious legal issues. He had, in fact, ended up in a white tux, though obviously he couldn’t say that the white he wore was a representative of his  _ purity _ . Lotor, being, well,  _ Lotor _ , had worn something absolutely insane. He had worn rather plain and boring black pants, as well as some fancy black boots that went up to his knees. The most interesting part of the outfit was, of course, the shirt-slash-coat-slash-robe thing he wore on his upper half, a huge mess of dark purple and gold fabric that fell around him in a way that was somehow both messy and beautiful. 

   Lotor had once told him that his people wore clothes as a symbol of their status. The poor, the peasants, the merchants and workers, wore simple clothes of often dull colors, only sprucing up their outfits by adding accessories if they felt like it. The rich and the noble blooded got to wear fancier things, more colorful things, more  _ expensive _ things. And the royalty? The ones who stood above everyone else, the ones who had everything they could ever want at their fingertips? They got things like what Lotor was wearing, lots of colorful fabric with folds and ties and too much of everything. It was absurd. And it was beautiful.

   The whole thing was beautiful. He made a mental note to thank his sister for all her hard work. He had complained and whined for so much of the planning process it was ridiculous, not taking things as seriously as he should have. She had been patient as all hell, too, somehow even getting him to cooperate once in awhile when she needed it. She was a blessing. If she hadn’t been there to pretty much run the whole thing, Lance was pretty sure he wouldn’t have ever gotten it all taken care of. Marriage was actually insane. 

   Eventually, the song he and his mother had been dancing to came to an end. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and sent him off in the direction of Lotor, saying that he needed to go give his husband another dance. Lotor had gotten the first one, sure, but he didn’t have any family there to hang around with. He was sitting with the Voltron crew, seemingly fitting in just fine over there, but his eyes kept wandering over to Lance like he would much,  _ much _ rather be with his husband than his friends. She couldn’t blame him for that. That was why she insisted Lance go see him again, even if she wanted to keep him for a little while longer. But her son was a married man now and she couldn’t keep him forever.

   “And then,” Pidge was saying, “there he was, finally showing up for the prank. He opened the door andーoh, Lance! Hey! Hunk and I were telling these nerds about the time we slimed that one teacher at the Garrison.”

   For the first time, Lance did to Lotor what he always did to him. He wrapped his arms around him and rested his chin on Lotor’s head, finally,  _ finally _ able to do so after all that time of being horribly short in comparison. “Man, that was great,” he said with a grin. “Where are we in the story?”

   “Just when he opens the door,” Hunk said. “He opened the door and the bucket started to wobble, y’know, and for a split second we’re all terrified that it’s going to fall the other way and not hit him.”

   Pidge smiled widely. “But, with our careful planning and roughly one million experiments with that fucking bucket on that door and all the spilled water and mopping and everything, it tipped the right way. The slime started spill out of the bucket and it splashed down onto his head, right, and he looked fucking  _ horrified _ and mad as  _ hell _ . Then the bucket just  _ slammed _ down onto his head, and I swear to fucking God I thought we might’ve killed the bastard, the way he went stumbling back and falling on his ass. He lived, though, don’t worry.”

   “But… why did you slime him?” Lotor asked.

   “Because he was literally the shittiest teacher in school,” Lance said. “Everybody hated that guy, but the three of us were the only ones who were willing to stand up to him. Even if it was only a bucket of slime. It was awesome, though. When he started demanding to know who did it, the other students who knew it was us were totally silent. Nobody admitted to it. He ended up punishing all of us. We ran a lot of fucking laps that week, didn’t we?”

   Hunk sighed at the near-traumatic memory. “That was the worst. He was even more brutal than usual.” 

   “That was incredibly stupid of you three,” Lotor said. 

   “Yeah, it wasn’t very smart, but we put a lot of thought into it,” Pidge said. “I mean, fuck, do you  _ know _ much time we spent doing experiments on the exact placement of the fucking bucket to get it to fall on him? We worked damn hard on that.”

   Lance reached forward to try to grab one of the small sandwiches on the table. When he couldn’t quite reach, Lotor grabbed it and handed it to him. Lance thanked him and took a little bite. “Humans truly are strange,” Lotor said. “I never would have thought of doing anything of the sort to my instructors when I was young.” 

   “Maybe Galra are just boring,” Pidge replied. “Humans know how to have fun.”

   Lotor rolled his eyes. “How is your species still  _ alive _ at this point? You lot should have died out a long time ago.” He reached up and laid his hand on the side of Lance’s face, even as he ate. “Although, I suppose I have to admit that I’m rather glad you haven’t.”

   “I love you,” Lance said after he swallowed that mouthful of sandwich. 

   “So,” Keith said, starting to change the subject. “Where are you guys going for the, uh, for the honeymoon?”

   “Dunno,” Lance replied. “Big purple bastard here hasn't told me. Somethin’ about it being a surprise or whatever.”

   “Trust me,” Lotor said, “you'll love it. I've been there before and it is  _ stunning.  _ I would accept nothing less for you.”

   The grin on Pidge’s slowly morphed from one of amusement at memories of the past to one of absolute mischief. “By the way, Lance,” she said, “I convinced Shiro to help me get you a gift. We put it in your room. Be sure to grab it before you leave.”

   Lance sighed. “It's awful, isn't it?”

   Shiro nodded. “You're probably going to be pretty pissed. Don't blame me, alright? It was all her idea.”

   “Am I allowed to ask what it is, like, in general? Like if it’s some God awful outfit or one of those dumb books you read while you're pooping?”

   Shiro looked over at Pidge for an answer and she shook her head. “Nope. It's a surprise. But don't worry, okay? I didn't manage to get you a dress, unfortunately, but it's gotta be the next best thing. God, wedding dresses are  _ expensive _ .”

   Lance scoffed. “ _ Weddings  _ are expensive. I dunno how I'm ever going to repay my family for all this.”

   “They won't ask you to,” Allura said. “They love you, Lance. They did all of this for you. You shouldn't worry so much about it.”

   “Speak of the devil,” he said as he saw his sister start to approach, “and he shall appear. Hey, sis.”

   “Come here,” she practically ordered. “I want my dance, then Lotor can keep you all to himself, alright?”

   He quickly shoved the remaining bit of his sandwich into his mouth and went to dance with her. After all, he had her to thank for the vast,  _ vast _ majority of the wedding. She had even arranged for his bachelor party, though it mostly consisted of Lance and the boys catching up on movies they had missed while they were out in space. Meanwhile, his sister had taken Lotor to a nearby spa she enjoyed and he was treated to Earthen pampering. They had been kept separated that night as per tradition, though Lotor didn't understand how seeing each other before the ceremony could possibly be bad luck. Humans really were strange creatures. 

   Sitting with Lance’s friends and watching him interact with his family, Lotor thought to himself once again that he was beyond lucky to have been blessed with Lance. 

   The human boy would not live forever. Now, it was Lotor’s mission to make the rest of Lance's short life the best it could possibly be. He wasn't going to waste a second. 

 

*

 

   The planet Lotor took Lance to for their honeymoon was, in fact,  _ stunning.  _ It was a lush planet with wide oceans and lazy rivers and sparkling lakes, roaring waterfalls and the comfortable shade of tall evergreen trees. Deep within the forest, on a plot of land nestled between the fork of one of those rivers, was a simple cabin built of deep red wood. The shutters on the windows were functional, not decorative, and painted a deep green; the windows themselves were circular and glittered in the sunlight.

   The inside of the cabin was cozy, with a plush sofa and rug in front of a fireplace in the living room, a small kitchen Lance would describe as  _ rustic _ , a sitting room with a large window that looked out to one of the paths of the river, a bathroom with both a shower and a bathtubーthe latter of which was big enough for the two of them to shareーand a lovely little vanity, and the bedroom with a double bed and a door that led to the backyard. It was all beautiful, all the kind of thing Lance was totally into. 

   “This planet is one of mine,” Lotor said. “I recently bought this place from the owners and provided them with a considerable housing upgrade. Unfortunately, since it's so far from the nearest town, you and I are going to have to do everything ourselves. The cooking and the cleaning, I mean. The kitchen is stocked. I… do hope you know how to cook better than I do.”

   Lance smiled as he started to unpack his things, taking out the box that Pidge’s gift was in but still largely avoiding it; Shiro had been involved in its acquirement, which was, in a word,  _ worrying.  _ What was it if Pidge couldn't get it herself? “Hunk has taught me a good few things over the years. I'm sure we’ll manage. And, hey, even if I  _ can't  _ cook any of this shit,  _ anything _ can be made into a sandwich.”

   Lotor chuckled and pulled Lance in for a kiss. “I adore you.”

   Lance rolled his eyes jokingly. “I know. I  _ adore _ you, too.” Lotor kissed him again. There was a particular type of heat in the kiss, the kind that burned through his veins and carried a very particular message. He broke the kiss before he got too carried away, saying, “We have to finish unpacking. Can you keep it in your pants until then?”

   Lotor sighed dramatically. “I  _ suppose  _ I can try.” His eyes flitted to the unopened box Lance had laid on the bed. “I am painfully curious as to what your friends got for you.”

   Lance groaned. “Honestly, I'm not sure I even want to know. Knowing them, probably something stupidly ridiculous. Pidge said it was the next best thing to a wedding dress, so it's  _ probably  _ something I'm supposed to wear. God help me.”

   “Well, in that case,” Lotor said, “you take that box into the bathroom and open it. If it's meant to be worn, put it on and come back out so I can see it. I will finish unpacking in the meantime.”

   “What am I gonna do with you?” Lance asked, reaching over to grab the box. “Fine. But don’t just take all my stuff out of my bag and  _ shove _ it into the dresser drawers, okay? Unless there’s an iron and ironing board here so I can fix them later.”

   Lotor’s face scrunched up in confusion. “A… what? Iron? Isn’t that a type of metal?”

   Lance shook his head slightly and broke out of Lotor’s hold. “I’ll explain later. Just do your job and unpack all our shit.”

   And Lotor, being the good husband he was, set about doing just that.

   The unpacking process went smoothly; he did as Lance asked and didn’t just shove his clothes into the drawers, but put them in nicely and neatly. He walked around the room, placing things where they belonged. Clothes in the dresser, books on the nightstand, the bag of toiletries on the floor next to the bathroom door as he didn’t want to just walk in on Lance changing with no regard. He went back and sat on the edge of the bed when he was done, staring at the closed door and wondering what Lance was doing in there.

   “Love,” Lotor called, “you’ve been hiding in the bathroom for far too long. Why are you so afraid to come out?”

   “It’s still sinking in that fucking Pidge and Shiro worked together to buy me this thing. It’s so  _ embarrassing _ . How could they  _ do _ this? I’m never going to be able to face them again after they pulled this shit.”

   “Do  _ what _ ? I can’t agree with you on how absurd it is unless you come out of the bathroom and let me see.”

   “I’m really not convinced that that’s a good idea. It’s awful.”

   “Lance. You’re always beautiful to me and you know that. Do not be so nervous. Come on out, let me see you.”

   Lance sighed and gathered his courage. The bathroom was directly connected to the bedroom, which meant that, thankfully, he didn’t have to go very far. He readjusted the fabric and summoned up the will to open the door and take a few steps out. There had been an encouraging smile on Lotor’s face when Lance opened the door, a smile that now slowly drained away and was replaced by a look of utter… shock? Yeah, that had to be shock. Lance sighed at the look. “I know. It’s fuckin’ ridiculous, isn’t it?”

   Lotor swallowed hard. “What… what is it? M-My people do not have such things.”

   Lance sighed. He  _ knew _ this looked ridiculous and he  _ hated _ Pidge and Shiro for getting him something like this. There was no top; Lance wondered if the top and bottom could be bought separately or if there was a set that was split up because of his distinct lack of boobs. There was, however, a bottom. It was a white thong, all lace on the sides but with solid fabric running down the middle, keeping all of the important bits hidden. Well, the important bits  _ would  _ be covered if he had had a vagina, but that wasn't happening. There was a distinct bulge where the fabric was meant to lay flat. If he had been hard at the time, even less would have been hidden. 

   Honestly, Lance wouldn't have minded wearing something like that normally. But there was one more piece to the outfit: a long, white lace train attached to the waistband at the back of the thong. He understood now what Pidge had meant by it being the next best thing to a wedding dresss and it made him want to live in a fucking hole for the rest of his life. 

   “It’s, uh, well.” Lance looked down at himself, at the white fabric and lace covering his body. Not that it was really  _ covering _ anything. “It’s called, uh, it’s called  _ lingerie.  _ It’s typically made for girls. I guess Pidge thought she’d be  _ funny _ and get this for me instead of a full-blown dress. Fuckin’ ridiculous. I’m just gonna change again, okay?” He took a step back towards the bathroom.

   “Don’t you  _ dare _ ,” Lotor practically snarled. It stopped Lance dead in his tracks. “Get over here.”

   “Does… does that mean you actually  _ like _ this?”

   “What I’m feeling at the moment goes far beyond  _ liking _ . Now be a good boy and come to me, alright?”

   Lance, of course, did what he was told, taking slow, tentative steps towards where Lotor sat waiting for him. 

   Lotor’s hands were on Lance’s waist as soon as he was close enough; it struck Lance once again just how  _ big _ the Galra could be, with a few exceptions. Lotor was certainly not one of those exceptions. Lance had always been lanky, rail-thin and a bit awkward in his proportions, which made it all too easy for Lotor’s hands to wrap around his waist like one might wrap a hand around a wrist. Lotor suddenly pulled him forward, Lance’s legs hitting the edge of the mattress and causing him to fall forward into Lotor’s arms. It reminded him of the first night they spent together all that time ago, back when there were still enormous gaps in their understanding of each other and massive doubts about their relationship coming from all sides. Lance couldn’t help but smile.

   “Marriage is absurd,” Lotor said, hauling Lance up into his lap. “I do not think I will understand why it is necessary or why your people desire it so much, but there is one part of it that I am rather pleased with. You are  _ mine _ , aren’t you? All mine, for as long as you live. You were always mine in my eyes, but now, in the eyes of even your kind, we are bonded.”

   Lance wrapped his arms around Lotor, resting his head on his shoulder. “Yeah. Not legally, mind you, but if I tell a human that I’m married and show them that I have a ring, I’m totally off-limits. Except to douchebags. There are some real fuckin’ douchebags who think it’s cool to date married people, or something. I dunno. Humans are fucked up.”

   “Evidently,” Lotor said. “I am glad that you are not so.” One of Lotor’s hands shifted from resting on Lance’s waist to his back, then slowly made its way downwards. It made Lance chuckle, the way Lotor could still be so gentle about everything even after all this time. Lotor responded to the laughter by grabbing at Lance’s ass, the tips of his fingernails digging into the flesh just the way he knew Lance liked. Lance’s laughter became a moan. 

   It couldn’t possibly get any better than this.

   But, as it usually happened when it came to sex, he had been wrong. He had been so,  _ so _ wrong. After a little while of sitting on Lotor’s lap and doing a lot of making out, Lance was being moved around and put on his back; over time, the two of them had tried some weird positions, but Lotor was rather partial to the ones that let him see Lance’s face. It was for that reason also that the lights were almost always on, only off when the mood struck in the middle of the night and the light of the moon shone through the windows. It was a bit embarrassing, the way Lotor insisted on seeing Lance’s face all the time, the way he reacted and adjusted what they did according to Lance’s facial expressions. That and, of course, the noises he made. 

   Lotor couldn’t see Lance’s face at that exact moment, but he could certainly hear the noises he made. Lotor had been  _ very _ interested when Lance told him that honeymoons usually involved a lot of sex. It wasn't like their sex life was lacking. It was thriving, if anything, but the unfortunate truth was that Lotor was still the Emperor, Lance was still a paladin of Voltron, and they both had duties to attend to. They couldn't stay in bed nearly as much as they would have liked to. Getting a few days off for their honeymoon was beyond wonderful. 

   Lotor had already applied more than enough lube and done more than enough stretching, but he was holding off on the main event. So there he was, gripping Lance’s hips as he kissed and licked at Lance’s dick through the fabric and lace.

   It was unfair. It was torture. And, God, Lance fucking loved it. He just wished that Lotor would pick up the pace a bit, move things along and get to the next scene. Lance was good at a number of things: Lance was flexible as all hell and could pull off those complicated positions they had tried, he was good with his mouth, he was good at seducing. He was not, however, good at patience. Lotor  _ loved  _ to make him wait,  _ loved  _ to watch Lance writhe and  _ loved _ to hear him beg in desperation. 

   Lotor was horribly cruel in the best way. 

   And then Lotor pulled away from Lance, taking all of the pleasure away with him. Lotor grinned. Aside from where his tongue had been, there was one more small wet spot on the fabric. Lotor put his finger there, eliciting a little gasp from Lance as he toyed with his tip. “You-You’re a jerk, you know that?” Lance said. 

   “Something tells me that you don't mind,” Lotor replied, voice low and rough. “Now, do I  _ have  _ to take this off of you?” he asked, tugging at Lance’s waistband. “That would be a shame.”

   Lance swallowed hard. “Um, I, uh, really don't know. I've never actually worn something like this. A-And don't tell Pidge, okay? I don't need her knowing that I  _ actually  _ put it on.”

   Lotor rolled his eyes. “Your modesty is unfounded. Perhaps she got it as a joke, but she must have expected on some level that you would put it on.” He sat back, still situated between Lance’s legs, and just… looked. He looked for longer than Lance would have liked and he felt the heat in of his blood as he started to blush. Lotor didn't seem to notice. 

   The concept of lingerie was foreign to Lotor. His people enjoyed sexual pleasures as much as humans did, but their practices could be very different at times. This was one of those times. His people did not feel the need to spruce themselves up so much. It was far more than anyone needed to do, but he would be lying if he said that he didn't  _ greatly _ appreciate it. His mind was not focused  on _ that _ at the moment. He had moved the fabric out of the way when his fingers had been up Lance’s ass, so, theoretically, the same could be done again. He hoped. There was a distinct difference between a hand and, in the words of Lance,  _ your stupid big alien dick. _

   He repeated the action, pulling the fabric aside. It refused to stay put on its own. It hadn’t been a problem earlier as it tried to snap back into place, but that was different. If Lotor tried to have sex with him while he was still clothed, it could end up being more uncomfortable than it should have been. He continued to stare, the whole time mulling it over.

   Lance couldn’t help but smile at the distinct irritation on Lotor’s face. “Babe, just take them off. It’s okay.”

   “But it’s so pretty,” he whined.

   “Oh, my God. How are you even real? Seriously, the point of this shit is to get everyone in the mood. It’s not supposed to be worn the  _ whole time _ . Except maybe bras, but. That’s not something we have to worry about.”

   Lotor groaned in defeat. “Fine,” he conceded. “If I must.”

   Despite the slight disappointment, that shit-eating grin came back as he slid the underwear off of Lance and took in the sight before him. He was  _ never _ going to get tired of this. Never, never,  _ never _ . And he was never going to get tired of the way Lance sucked in a sudden gasping breath when Lotor began to push himself in.

   Lance was always overwhelmed at first. Always. Lotor started out thick and only got thicker, only felt better as one by one, pair by pair, the ridges on him flattened as they slid in and expanded again when they were inside. He still hadn't asked how or why they did that, but, frankly, he didn't  _ care.  _ All he cared about at the moment was the way they  _ felt _ , the way Lotor always took  _ such  _ good care of him. 

   All he cared about was what was happening right then and there. For the time being, nothing else mattered. 

   God, this felt good. 

 

*

 

   It was the next morning when Lotor brushed the hair away from Lance’s eyes and whispered, “You’re so beautiful.”

   Lance smiled. He had been awhile for a good while now, though the two of them had laid together in silence as they gathered the will to do, well,  _ anything _ other than going back to sleep. Lance yawned before he said, “I won’t always be.”

   “What do you mean?” Lotor asked, concern in his voice as he held Lance close. “Of course you will be, darling.”

   “I’ve been thinking about this for awhile now. You won’t really age while we’re together, will you? You’re already old as balls in my eyes and you still look young as hell. That’s how you are. That’s how your people are. You live for fucking forever and take fucking forever to age.”

   “Does that matter?”

   “Kinda. I mean… Lotor, I’m going to get old. I’m going to get wrinkles, I’m going to get gray hairs, my voice is going to get all croaky and my joints are going to get all creaky. And, fuck, no matter how good of care I’ve taken of my skin, it’ll dry out one day. I’ll probably get that weird old people smell, too. Elderly humans have an old person smell. It’s weird as hell and I don’t want it, but I’ll probably get it. I won’t be able to keep up with you anymore. I won’t be attractive anymore.”

   Lotor shook his head. “Don’t think that way. If you get wrinkled and gray, dried out and start smelling different, fine. If one day you really can’t keep up with me and this part of our relationship comes to an end, very well. But I will never think you are anything less than beautiful.”

   “You don’t know that for sure,” Lance barely managed to say. “You can’t tell me that you’ll always think I’m beautiful. You probably won’t. One day you’ll change your mind. Everyone does.”

   “Stop it. It doesn’t matter to me how  _ ugly _ the humans think you will get. As much as I love your face, your body… I love  _ you _ most of all. There is a certain medical practice, if you can call it that, that operates in the black market. They know how to transfer the consciousness of one person into the newly-deceased body of another, and the cause of the new body’s death is erased. The body becomes whole and lively again when someone else is put into it. The first experimented with animals, you understand. They took the consciousness of a herbivore and put it into the body of a carnivore. When the body woke up, despite the body being that of a carnivore, the animal began to eat plants. It died soon after, of course, because the body was not meant for a diet of vegetation. I once considered tracking them down and putting an end to their operation, considering those who took part in it committed murders in order to gain the new body they would be housed in, but I decided against it. There is always the possibility that the one killed was an awful person and the one who applied for the consciousness transfer would go on to do wonderful things for the universe and those who reside in it.”

   Lance looked and felt rather confused. “Are you suggesting that one day we put my mind into some dead person’s body so I live longer?”

   “I will not make suggestions for you. What you do with your life is your own choice. I merely want to make sure you know of all of your options for the future.”

   “If they’re a black market deal, how do you even know about them?”

   “It’s common knowledge that they exist. It is not common knowledge where they operate, however. I’m sure your people have something similar.”

   “Well, I mean. We have backalley plastic surgery and underground organ markets and stuff, but…” 

   “See? It isn’t so different.”

   “Except you’re talking about literally taking my consciousness, everything about who I am, out of this body and putting it into a new one. Probably a body of a Galra, yeah? So I’d live as long as you do.”

   Lotor sighed. “I truly did not mean it that way. I would never have something like that done to you without permission, unless you wanted to. Like I said, dear. I meant only to let you know of your options. I did not mean to spoil a perfectly good moment.”

   “Why didn’t you bring this up back when you were thinking about fucking killing yourself?”

   “I was, admittedly, overcome with emotions. I rather forgot about it until now. I’ve spent a lot of time since then wondering what we could do about your lifespan.”

   Lance rolled his eyes. “That’s sure like you.”

   Lotor half-shrugged. “What do you think?”

   “I wish I could say that I’d seriously think about it,” Lance said after a long moment. “I’m sorry. I can’t do that. I’m human, Lotor. I will live and die as one. I hope you aren’t upset with me.”

   Lotor shook his head. “I could never be upset with you for making your own decisions. I love you. Perhaps your having a short life will keep us closer than other couples as we continue. In any case, I will always treasure every moment we have together. Now, you look tired. You stay here and I’ll go try to make us some breakfast, alright?”

   Lance nodded. “Alright. Thank you.”

   Lotor kissed the top of Lance’s head. “Of course.”

 

*

 

   Lance sighed and flopped down on the bed. Lotor sat across the room at his desk, pouring over paperwork and signing things as needed. “Lotor,” he whined, “I’m bored. Pay attention to me.”

   “I desperately wish that I could. Unfortunately, I’ve already put this paperwork off long enough. I have to finish all of this,” Lotor replied. “My attention will belong only to you when I am done.”

   Lance sighed again. Lotor made it a point to always,  _ always _ spend time with Lance. He had never fallen down on the job, so it wasn’t like Lance doubted his words. He just wished time would move a little faster. They were still in their honeymoon phase, months after the actual honeymoon was over. And there was peace in the universe, the Galra following through on the promises theyーand their Emperorーmade. The two of them still continued their cleanup work, as did the Voltron crew, and things were going well. Surprisingly well, actually.

   There had always been doubt. Lance wouldn’t admit it and he was ashamed to even think about it, but a part of him had always wondered. There had been so many times that he had wondered if the things that were happening were real. It all felt too good to be true, like there was no possibility that things could  _ actually _ go so smoothly. There were a few bumps in the road, sure, but it was remarkably smooth considering all of the circumstances. Peace had always seemed absurd, an unreachable ideal. No matter how much he believed in Lotor’s love, no matter how much be believed in his honesty, there was a part deep, deep within him that thought there was no way. No way that it was all happening. No way. How could the son of Zarkon, the universe’s worst enemy no matter where you went, be truthful? How could he genuinely desire peace when he had been raised for war? It seemed impossible. Even though the terms had been set and the treaty had been signed, how was it possible that Lotor and his apparently bloodthirsty people could follow through?

   But they did. How? How had they followed through?  _ Why _ ? He didn’t quite understand. It wasn’t a bad thing, of course. It was a great and wonderful thing, the settling peace and everything that came with it. He felt awful for ever doubting Lotor and his people in the way that he did, but really, how could anything else have been expected of him? He had eventually learned that he had been completely and utterly wrong to ever doubt him, but he would never live down the shame of having doubted in the first place.

   Laying there on the bed, looking over at where Lotor sat, Lance wanted to take back all of his doubts. He liked to pretend like he had never doubted him, that he was in a different league from the others who had doubted him. He sighed again, this time from anger at himself instead of boredom.

   “Lance,” Lotor said. “You’re so distracting, you know that?”

   “I’m sorry,” Lance replied. “It’s just… I doubted you. I’m sorry. I always acted like I didn’t doubt you for a second, but that wasn’t quite true. I was denying that I doubted you because I wanted to be different from the others. I… I’m not as innocent as I act. I’m really sorry.”

   Lotor shook his head and flipped to a different page of the paperwork in front of him. “Hush. I doubted myself, too. I am a bit of a mess, you know. And I wondered if there was any hope of me being much different from my father as time progressed. There was always a fear, a worry that he had somehow affected me beyond repair. Do not be upset with yourself. You say you doubted me, and perhaps deep down you did, but I love you. I know that you love me, as well. We both had our doubts about me and we moved past them, didn’t we? Do not worry about what happened back then. The past is in the past, love, and nobody is perfect. It’s all okay.”

   “Really? You aren’t mad at me?”

   “Of course not. I’ve never been mad at you, not truly. You have done nothing  _ wrong _ . You have misbehaved, of course, but that is a separate matter altogether.”

   “You’re so good to me.”

   “But of course. I love you.”

   “I love you, too. Thank you for everything.”

   “Mm. Instead of thanking me, would you like to come help me wade through this tidal wave of paper? I would appreciate it.”

   He tapped the desk with his pen. Being Emperor was not a blessing and a curse; Lotor had dyed his hands red the day he killed his father and, from him, from that man he murdered, he became the ruler of something bloody. And, for better or for worse, Lotor had fallen in love with something beautiful. 

   That something beautiful got off the bed and walked over. “I guess I can try. You know I can still only read a bit of your language so far. I don’t know the big fancy words or anything. There’s not exactly a bunch of time for me to study a fucking  _ language _ .”

   “We could hire a tutor for you,” Lotor suggested. “If you’d like. I know I’m not the best teacher. As it is my first language, I am not entirely sure how to properly teach it.”

   “Ugh. That sounds like such a hassle, though.”

   “I know. It's not easy to learn a new language, is it?”

   “Depends on the language differences. I mean, there's a  _ lot _ of difference between us. Your language looks insane. Like, those aren’t  _ letters _ . They aren’t even  _ symbols _ . It kinda reminds me of, like, fucking morse code but uglier.”

   “What is  _ morse code _ ?”

   “It was invented for radio communication before we were smart enough to transmit our voices. It’s a bunch of lines and dots, basically, based on the alphabet. Like, short sounds represent dots and long sounds represent dashes. Each letter is assigned dots and/or dashes. The dots and dashes are just… they look nasty when they’re, like, actually visually represented.”

   “Interesting. So you’re telling me that my language looks like an ugly visually represented sound-based method of communication?”

   “Pretty much.”

   “Should I be offended?”

   “Maybe.”

   “Unbelievable. Why do I love you?”

   “No idea. I’m glad you do, though.”

   “As am I.”

   Lance pointed at a small line the symbols on the paper. “That one means, uh,  _ permission _ , right?”

   Lotor smiled and nodded. “Yes. See, you aren’t so bad at this. You’ll get used to it. One of these days you will find yourself able to read this entire page. I know you will.”

   “I hope so,” Lance said. “I’d like that.”

   “I will most certainly look into hiring a tutor for you. I would truly love to be able to deactivate our translators and to hear you speak to me in my own language. If you would like, I will also make an attempt to learn one of yours. Which would you prefer, English or Spanish?”

   “Well, both have their merits. English is a pain in the ass, but if we taught you Spanish and you tried to talk to the other paladins, I don’t think they’d really understand. I’m pretty sure they only have a basic required-two-years-in-high school knowledge of the language. I’d have to translate and that would completely negate the point of you learning a human language, since the humans you most often interact with use English the most.”

   “Humans are complicated,” Lotor said with a sigh. “The Galra do not have so many languages among our race. There are different dialects depending on where you go, but we all speak the same language.”

   “Life would definitely be easier if we had one singular shared language,” Lance agreed. “But, you know how we are. We’re fuckin’ stupid.”

   “It’s somewhat endearing, if I had to put a word to you. Different people from such different places speak so differently, and yet you all make an effort to understand each other. My people are not so. We do not often feel the need to learn the languages of others. Out in the wideness of the universe, we usually only use translators. There never seems to be a reason for us to go through the effort of learning  _ languages _ . Although, aren’t some of your friends also bilingual?”

   “Well, yeah. Shiro knows Japanese. I think Hunk might know another one, too. I don’t think Pidge and Keith do, though. Although, Pidge has been trying to learn Altean. It’s a slow process.”

   “I can imagine. I can also imagine that it will take a good long while for me to learn, well, whichever language we decide upon.”

   Lance hugged Lotor the best he could from behind him. “Love you.”

   “I love you, too. I always will. Never forget that.”

   “I won’t.”

 

*

 

   Even though Lance was human, even though he let himself live and die, even though his memory faded over time throughout the course of his life, that was the one thing he never forgot. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe it's done??? Like??? Holy shit???  
> I've said it before and I'll say it again: Thank you all so much for everything! I've done a lot of writing in my time and it hasn't always been noticed, so I'm incredibly grateful for each and every last one of you who gave this fic a chance and stuck around to the end! There were a lot of things I was iffy about, a few plot lines I didn't think would be very interesting, and probably a fuckton of typos because, god, who has the time to proofread a fanfic? So thank you for quelling my worries with your sweet comments <3   
> I've been absurdly happy writing this fic and, while I'm sad to see it come to an end, I've got more things planned for these guys in the future! Hell, I dunno, I like this AU enough that I might come back and write a couple one-shots from it. I dunno. Who knows? Exciting stuff here, guys.  
> Thanks again! You guys have been the best readers I could have asked for~

**Author's Note:**

> As always, feel free to come visit me at https://twitter.com/pastelkanan~


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